Leopards have the weather on their side

At this present moment, everything favours Black Leopards in the promotion play-offs. The reason behind that is pretty simple – they won their game against Platinum Stars at home and they also won a crucial point away from home against Jomo Cosmos.

Although Cosmos are a bit more experienced in these playoffs as opposed to Leopards and Stars, when I look at the quality of players in the Thohoyandou-based team, they hold the upper hand against both Ezenkosi and Dikwena.

The weather conditions are also on Leopards’ side because as we know, Thohoyandou is a very hot place and it is not easy for players to adapt to that environment. If I remember well, there was a season where Leopards lost the play-offs to Cosmos and I don’t think they would want to go through the very same pain of not qualifying.

What I see as a challenge for Stars is that they are not 100% ready for the play-off, because the Tendai Ndoro fiasco gave them uncertainty as to whether they would be relegated or would participate in the play-offs. As it stands, with Stars at the bottom of the play-off table, I feel like justice is being done because the Rustenburg outfit know for a fact they don’t deserve to be in the play-offs.

They were beaten on the field of play and were relegated fair and square. It would have been better for Ajax Cape Town to lose their top flight status in the play-offs than to lose it in the courtroom. What is more painful is that the case dragged on until the end of the season.

I feel the league should have made a decision long before the 30th round of the league. In so doing, it would have prepared Roger de Sa and his team for the playoffs. Also, this would have afforded Ajax the time to deal with this case in a much better way. Now, with the harsh and quick decisions which were taken in the last minute, it makes me lean towards the belief that it was unfair for Stars.

If they don’t qualify, it will be expected and like I said, justice will be done. However, if they do happen to qualify, they will always have that dark cloud hanging over them that they retained their status via the back door.

The manner in which the PSL handled this matter was unacceptable. I reiterate that this matter should have been resolved long ago. We would not be seeing Ajax running to the courts to have decisions of the league overturned.

As outsiders we are not decision-makers, we are supporters and lovers of the game, but we could see this case had the potential to be resolved a lot sooner than it was so that when people raised their concerns, objections would have been addressed before the conclusion of the season.

By delaying the outcome, it caused instability in our football. The PSL has worked so hard to make sure they have set up and established this league to be rated among the best in the world. I feel they have shot themselves in the foot by dragging this matter because it raises questions about the leadership of the PSL.

Look at a team like AmaZulu, who fought long and hard to finish in the top eight, they have been kicked out and that is unfair on Cavin Johnson’s team.