Time for Zifa Eastern Region to introspect

TOMORROW the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League’s 18th member, Bikita Minerals, will make a belated debut at home to Yadah in a re-arranged match at Sakubva Stadium in Mutare.

Bikita Minerals will also have to face Herentals in another re-arranged match, that is however, yet to be scheduled, as they were only confirmed as Zifa Eastern Region Division One champions last week.

The progress was made when Tenax, who were seeking to be declared the rightful champions, decided to abandon the appeal route that was open for them.

Had Tenax appealed, then the matter would still be in the boardroom.

It was a complicated boardroom battle whereby the Zifa Eastern Region Division One disciplinary procedure involved Graham and Bikita Minerals while Tenax were an interested party affected by the outcome of the hearing.

As such, Tenax could not appear before the ERSL disciplinary committee as they were not party to the case in which Graham were accused of fielding an illegal player in the game against Bikita Minerals, which ended 1-1 thereby allowing Tenax to sneak in and win the title.

However, a disciplinary process that gave the match to Bikita Minerals dethroned Tenax hence their interest in the matter.

Having such an intriguing battle decided in the boardroom is horrible and critics believe this could have been avoided had the ERSL leadership been proactive on the particular incident.

This is based on claims that an ERSL official was at the venue and was told of the presence of an ineligible player but advised the parties to proceed with the game with the flagged player, a decision that led to the three-month post-season chaos.

The Zifa Eastern Region Division One stands out as the only region without a Premier Soccer League champion.

It is also remarkable that the Zifa Eastern Region Division One league has, by far, the most disciplinary cases among the four regions every season.

In other words, the ERSL has the most matches determined in the boardroom than the rest of the football leagues/ regions in the country.

Sadly, a significant number of these matches have a bearing on either the championship destiny or relegation equation.

Even when the 2022 season was won by a team that went unbeaten all season, there still was controversy as allegations of match fixing involving Mutare City were tabled but the case was thrown out by the ERSL leadership for lack of evidence beyond reasonable doubt.

Just last season alone there were controversial incidents that would taint the campaign. For instance, in the game between Midway and Tenax at

Vengere Stadium, Midway allegedly used an illegible player. Tenax won the match 2-1 and the matter died a natural death as the ESRL never took disciplinary action.

In the second notable incident, the match involved title contenders Graham and Tenax at Chiremba Stadium. The match ended 1-1 and the referee was manhandled by Tenax players, while Graham supporters attacked Tenax players. However, although the Tenax coach was suspended, the case was not handled as expected.

Also, there were numerous complaints over the allocation or appointment of match officials amid claims that one of the title contenders had the same referees for their matches because the ESRL leadership had connections with the Referees Committee to provide certain referees for the team’s matches.

These claims were dismissed but the frequency of complaints in that regard suggested something was wrong.

The 2024 Eastern Region Division One contest promises to be explosive as Tenax will again be seeking the title and will have to deal with heavyweights Triangle, who had been part of the Premier Soccer League for over a decade until relegation last season.

Triangle look strong on paper in terms of resources, both financial and manpower, to make a quick return to the Premiership.

Tenax, who also have Premier Soccer League experience, are always part of the promotion equation and will most likely fight to the end.

Wangu Mazodze will also have a strong say in the title race after taking last season’s battle right to the final day while seemingly well resourced, so much that they want to have another team in the Zifa Eastern Region Division One this season.

So before the season even starts, the 2024 ERSL season promises fireworks and a lot will depend on the league’s leadership.

The ERSL leadership has to distance itself from member clubs right from the start of the campaign and one of the biggest problems has been the presence of individuals within the league’s administration, who have links with title challengers.

There is also a need for football laws in the country to be derived from one source- Zifa, the national association, so that there is no discord.

In the Graham v Bikita Minerals case, there is an understanding that the guilty party had to be docked three points for their crime regardless of the 1-1 final score as opposed to awarding the game to Bikita Minerals as if the game had been abandoned.

On the other hand, the ERSL insisted that their regulations have the awarding of the match on a 3-0 scoreline as a ‘remedy’ to the complainant.

It is an area that needs the Zifa Normalisation Committee to attend to.