The ManicaPost
. . .18 team PSL league proposed. . .Premiership-less Mutare looming
Ray Bande Senior Sports Reporter
ZIFA president, Philip Chiyangwa, can only ‘mend bridges’ in the PSL promotional playoffs deadlock by allowing the promotion of four Division One regional champions and relegation of two Premiership teams to create an 18-team top-flight league for the 2017 season, the Eastern Region chairman has said.
| The Premier Soccer League was thrown into disarray following a ZIFA Assembly resolution last Saturday evening for the relegation of four teams from the top-flight league at the end of this season. |
ZIFA president, Philip Chiyangwa, however, quickly waded into the debate, saying early this week that he will try to mend bridges between the PSL leadership and some of the councillors to ensure that this doesn’t bring the national game into disrepute.
There are only two rounds of Castle Lager Premiership league matches left in the domestic top-flight league and at the beginning of the season all the clubs were informed that this year only two teams would be relegated.
This followed a ZIFA Assembly resolution last year that only two clubs will be demoted from the Premiership this season and there will be a play-off featuring the four Division One winners, with two of them making it into the top-flight league.
The Premier League was supposed to fund the play-offs, but problems started when the top-flight league said they didn’t have the resources to bankroll the play-offs.
PSL boss, Peter Dube, is said to have infuriated councillors when he said PSL were not in a position to assume the costs of the national play-offs as themselves rely on sponsorship from other companies.
And this sparked a rebellion among the regional representatives, who then decided last Saturday to move a motion to reverse last year’s resolution.
With numbers on their side, the regional representatives won easily.
But Chiyangwa, who backed the move to have only two teams being relegated as per the resolution of the council last year, said he would try and find common ground between the parties.
Nonetheless, ZIFA Eastern Region chairman, Davison Muchena, said the only easy way out was to have an 18-team top-flight league next season.
“I think when the president, Philip Chiyangwa, said he would endeavour to mend bridges, he meant we would have an 18-team top-flight league next season.
“To me this is the only solution that can work in favour of all parties. Teams in the Premiership currently do not want to have four teams relegated and we from the four Division One regions do not also want to have our champions subjected to play-offs.
“Hence the only easy way out is for PSL to relegate two teams as per their plan and then accommodate the four regional Division One champions to make an 18-team Premiership league for the 2017 Premiership season. We can then sit down and agree on the way forward for 2018 before the start of the 2017 season,” said Muchena.
The Chiredzi-based football administrator, said the decision to have play-offs was never made it good faith from the onset.
Scanned documents showing minutes of the ZIFA meeting that endorsed the staging of playoffs at the end of this season as well as the recent letter from PSL purporting that they will not fund the play-offs
“This came as a proposal from PSL and no-one among the regional representatives really wanted it, but simply because everyone was preoccupied with ousting Cuthbert Dube it was reluctantly agreed upon.
“PSL are not being honest when they say they never pledged to fund the play-offs. Document to prove that are there. In any case, PSL cannot tell us now that they only pledged to organise the play-offs as if the regions themselves cannot organise the play-offs when we can organise matches for 18 teams for the entire season,” he added.
During last Saturday’s meeting that reversed the idea of play-offs, 16 councillors, who are clearly all the PSL club representatives, voted for the idea to have two teams relegated. Unfortunately, their vote could not carry the day as 24 councillors voted against the idea to relegate two teams, but to revert to last year’s set-up.
Thirteen councillors abstained from the voting process.
While five councillors were absent from the indaba, this did not affect the day’s proceedings making the resolution binding with the ZIFA Assembly adopting it.
This development will present a lot of drama in the league as Tsholotsho and Mutare City who have been fighting relegation could become the latest casualties by joining Border Strikers who have already been relegated.
Given that Mutare outfit, Buffaloes is struggling to maintain a gap between them and Yadah Stars FC, Mutare is at risk of not having a single team in the top-flight league if the move to demote two teams and promote two teams is eventually let to prevail.
Premiership teams, Chapungu, Triangle, Hwange and How Mine have overnight become relegation candidates.
Chapungu, who lost to FC Platinum last Saturday, are on 31 points, need to win their last two matches against Hwange and CAPS United and hope other results will work in their favour.
Triangle, Hwange and How Mine – all on 35 points – need three points each to ensure they are safe from relegation worries.
This also means ZIFA Northern Region Division One club, Black Rhinos, who were crowned champions last Saturday after beating Kariba Waves 2-0 at One Commando with two games to spare, have been promoted into the Premier Soccer League. This, though, could change in the coming days.
