Soccer season to kick off despite squabbling

THE Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season will kick-off next week even without representatives from the ZIFA Eastern Region Division One whose winners are yet to be determined, albeit, in the boardroom.

Tenax won the sole ticket into the Premiership after a thumping victory over Rusitu Tigers leaving front-runners for most of the season Bikita Minerals and Wangu Mazodze in limbo after both could only manage draws against Grayham and Renco Mine respectively.

However, Bikita Minerals raised dust after accusing Grayham of using an ineligible player, a case rubbished by the latter, and the Eastern Region league controversially awarded the Masvingo-based team three points and a 3-0 score line.

That left Bikita Minerals on top of the table and they had been preparing for life in the topflight until Tenax appealed to ZIFA.

The case was heard last week and the Appeals Committee decided to transform it to the Disciplinary Committee, who are scheduled to hear the matter this weekend.

The bickering and possible delays on the outcome of the matter, which could also solicit further appeals by the losing party, were casting a cloud of uncertainty over the commencement of the 2024 season.

But PSL chairman Farai Jere yesterday reiterated that the league will start with the winners of the Eastern Region case accumulating a fixture backlog which they would play once cleared to play.

Jere was speaking on the sidelines of the renewal of a sponsorship deal between the PSL and football’s all-weather friends Delta Beverages through their Castle Lager brand.

“We are going to start our matches in the first week of March. The season will be opened by the Castle Challenge Cup which kicks-off this weekend and it will be followed by the league matches next week,” said Jere.

“What does that mean? It means that the team that is going to come from Eastern Region Division One which hasn’t been availed to us by ZIFA as yet, will have outstanding matches. It is very common everywhere, even in Europe.

“We cannot stop the league because the reason why we planned an early season kick-off is to avoid fixture congestion along the way as well as accommodate international fixtures given that some of our teams in the league will also be playing in the African Safari.

“We put all those things into account to then say let’s start our league early so that we accommodate all that.” The opening week of the league is expected to be one of the most explosive in recent years with giants Dynamos and Highlanders clashing at Barbourfields.

Jere said the PSL did this deliberately as a way of reducing chances of hooliganism and violence at the venue.

“That was a deliberate move,” he said.

“We want to exorcise that ghost of having violence at Barbourfields whenever these teams are playing. If that happens we are going to fine both teams heavily. We want to have this match played early in the season because we cannot allow two clubs to hold the entire league at ransom; they can’t be allowed to bring the whole league into disrepute.

“So we said we want that match to be played early in the season. We want them to conscientise their fans. They should start having road-shows to tell their fans that they don’t want any violence in football. We are positive that it’s going to be a violence-free match.”

He predicted an exciting season, especially with the coming in of former Warriors star Khama Billiat, who has joined Yadah.

“We are expecting a lot of excitement given some developments which have been and are still happening including the coming in of Khama Billiat into the Premier Soccer League. That alone is to increase the value of our league.

“Having players of such stature, those players who have played at the highest level. I remember he was once voted the second-best player in the continent (after former teammate Dennis Onyango) when he helped South Africa giants Mamelodi Sundowns to the CAF Champions League glory in 2016.

“And his choosing to come to play in Zimbabwe is an endorsement of our league. That will also force other teams to raise their performance bars.”