Let’s pray for the best, but if not, then blame it on PSL
From Page 16
why the PSL management didn’t order that Dynamos should not return to Harare after the abandonment of that game in June but stay in Gweru ready to play the match — from the 56th minute — the following day.
Maybe, the PSL didn’t want to foot the costs of such a move but isn’t that the reason why they get an allocation for administration fees from the sponsors of the league, money which should be used to offset such emergencies for the sake of protecting the integrity of the league and their sponsors?
The more the PSL dragged on, without a resolution to this case, the more they left themselves exposed to the possibility of things going badly wrong — as is now being feared ahead of today’s game.
If the match had been played the following day, the issue related to the players who have moved and injuries would have been taken care of. After all, that’s what others do. On February 28, this year, a South African Premiership game between Mamelodi Sundowns and Chippa United was called off in the 41st minute because of a power failure in Pretoria. The match was goalless at that time. The South African Premiership ordered Chippa United not to travel back to their base but to remain in Pretoria and instructed that the two teams replay the game the following day, starting from the 41st minute, and it ended goalless.
Their rules are very clear that such matches should be played just 48 hours after the abandonment.
In December 2004, the La Liga match between Real Madrid and Real Sociedad was abandoned at the Santiago Bernabeu, with 70 000 fans being evacuated from the stadium, after a militant called a newspaper to report a bomb had been planted inside the stadium.
The match was tied 1-1 and there were two minutes and 40 seconds of regulation time and four minutes of additional time left to be played.
The Spanish football authorities then ruled that the match should be played on January 6, three weeks later, and the two clubs were even allowed to change their players even though it would only be played for the remaining minutes, starting at 1-1.
Real Madrid, who had changed coaches during the three weeks, scored in those remaining minutes through Zinedine Zidane’s penalty to win the match 2-1.
A number of players, who had featured in that match on both sides, found themselves either being relegated to the bench or not featuring at all.
Michael Owen, who had been used as a substitute in the abandoned game, was pushed to the bench for the replay and could have been eligible to come back as a substitute in the remaining minutes played in the second match.
Fans were also allowed to use the tickets they had bought for the original encounter and not this exercise where the supporters are being asked to play $2 to watch 30 minutes of possible action tomorrow.