LET'S PRAY FOR THE BEST, BUT IF NOT, THEN BLAME IT ON THE PSL

After the Ntouba controversy, football can't afford another farce today

AFTER a tumultuous week in which the Christian Ntouba controversy cast a huge shadow on the game, the domestic Premiership will hold its breath this afternoon praying that events in Gweru today will not produce yet another farce.

Chapungu and Dynamos are scheduled, according to the football authorities, to play the remaining minutes of the match that was abandoned in farcical fashion in June when a goalpost collapsed under the weight of the home team’s ‘keeper.

The Glamour Boys were leading 4-0, just before the hour mark, when the incident happened and repeated attempts by Gweru City Council employees to repair the damaged goalpost failed, leaving the referee with no option but to call off the match.

Now, three months later, the two teams are set to meet at the same venue and play the remaining minutes with the PSL — on the advice of the organ that ruled on the match — saying the game should only feature the players who were in both teams’ line-ups back then.

Should a player who was on the field be replaced by one who was on the bench, the PSL say that will be considered a substitution and Dynamos, who were yet to make any changes at the time of the abandonment, can technically field three new players today should the match go ahead.

The problem, though, is that Chapungu had fielded all their three substitutes and, to make matters worse, they have lost two other players who were on their team sheet that day to other clubs while four are either injured or are not feeling well.

This means the Gweru airmen have 10 in-field players to choose from for the game, if those players include three who had been substituted that day and — technically — can’t be fielded today, it means Chapungu have only seven in-field players eligible for the game.

The seven in-field players, plus the goalkeeper, will be enough to make a team given that eight players are considered good enough by FIFA for the game to continue but the problem will come — if the match goes ahead — should there be injuries for the airmen.

The PSL have been insisting that the match should go ahead, despite repeated appeals from the airmen that this has turned into a farce and the judgment cannot be complied with without dragging the integrity of the league into disrepute.

Of course, Chapungu looked dead and buried that afternoon and gifting them with a replay sets a bad precedent where home teams can now conspire to have goalposts that can collapse, whenever they feel they are being overrun by the opposition, hoping for another day to fight this battle.

But, it’s also true that half-an-hour in football is a lot of time and those who are also in the race for the league championship like Chicken Inn, who dropped all three points at Ascot, Ngezi Platinum and FC Platinum — can argue it’s enough for the hosts to turn the fourgoal deficit should they apply themselves fully to the assignment.

They can probably point to that sensational collapse by the Glamour Boys last year, when they conceded three goals in the last five minutes of their Harare Derby against CAPS United in that 3-3 draw at the National Sports Stadium, as an example that it’s never over until the fat lady sings.

After the Ntouba debacle, in which attempts to have his red card rescinded dominated the game last week, there are many who will be praying that the game at Ascot today goes without incident. But, in the event things don’t go according to plan, the blame should be heaped on the PSL management.

For, until now, it remains a mystery