Simba Rushwaya
Eastern Sports Echoes
IT can’t get worse than this.
It has to be the worst football show business produced in the Eastern Region Division One by any standards.
A horror movie if you chose to call it.
Indeed, it sent shockwaves and echoes, not just in our Eastern shores, but the whole country, and even stole the limelight normally granted to the top-flight Castle Lager Premier Soccer League (PSL).
It is one for the archives, but for the wrong reasons.
Here we go . . .
My colleague, Ray Bande, elsewhere in this newspaper reports that a match pitting second placed Mutare City Rovers and log leaders, Wangu Mazodze, last Sunday, kicked off at around 4.20pm after ZIFA Referees Committee’s regional coordinator, Langton Chitsa had appointed match officials via SMS text messages.
Chitsa later discovered that the messages were not delivered to the match officials. This led to the match officials from Bikita to arrive at 4.02pm.
This is not a laughing matter Chitsa.
I think by now Chitsa you have resigned out of shame, and keep the little dignity that is left of you.
If you haven’t left office by now, then there is something wrong with you. You are not a man of honour.
Chitsa, you have brought Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) and the name of football into disrepute, and you deserve to take a seat on the sidelines, while serious officials run the show.
If you can’t perform basic communication tasks, then what kind of a leader are you?
How do you communicate to match officials through an SMS?
The worst thing you did was not to follow-up on your SMS. Where were you rushing to?
Do the correct thing and pave way for others Chitsa.
For the sake of not sounding one-sided dear readers, below is what the Eastern Region Soccer League administrator, Fungai Munyoro-Chingaira had to say about the whole debacle: “Eastern Region Soccer League wishes to clarify to its valued stakeholders on what caused the delay on the match pitting FC Wangu Mazodze and Mutare City Rovers FC.
The regional office was notified by both teams that there were no match officials at Mucheke Stadium at around 2pm.The office made some enquiries with the regional coordinator, Langton Chitsa who said he had appointed the match officials via an SMS. However, Chitsa later discovered that the messages were not delivered to the match officials.
He assured the regional office that before 3.30pm, the match officials would be at the venue. The match officials arrived at 4.02pm. The match kicked off at 4.20pm and 12 minutes into the second half, Mutare City Rovers goalkeeper said he could not see due to bad light. The match was called off at 5.50pm.”
I am really ashamed on behalf of the Eastern Region Division One offices.
You are a joke and a bad advertisement for our region.
The chaos associated with soccer in this part of the country is just nauseating. We attracted the attention of the media earlier in the year after a protracted boardroom fight between Bikita Minerals and Tenax nearly cost the region a dance in the PSL.
Bikita Minerals were later declared winners, and are now playing with the big boys, but after unnecessary hullabaloo which surely scared sponsors from the league.
Sponsors want to be associated with smart and organised brands, and our region is the opposite with characters such as Chitsa.
It is not just Chitsa in this unfolding comedy, how the match officials decided to kick-off a match of that magnitude at 4.20pm remains a mystery to all and sundry, because the venue did not have functioning floodlights. It surely was also an oversight by the referees.
Heads must roll after this calamity.
ZIFA must crack the whip or perish. Our football fans deserve better.
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