There's room for improvement

SO THE Castle Lager Premier Soccer League 2018 season got off to a stuttering start last weekend. Not severe, but bad enough to put a damper to the excitement that comes with a fresh season and dent the game on the whole.

Badly, no beaming of live action from any of the stadia across the country — which robbed the game of an opportunity to sell the country’s flagship football.

Sadly, no home comforts for some teams as they were forced by circumstances to “host” matches away from their own backyards — with only seven facilities having been certified as meeting the required standards. Shurugwi and Mutare converged on Zvishavane for the meeting between Nichrut and Mutare City Rovers; while ZPC Kariba stayed holed up in their Nyamhunga habitat, insisting that they would play FC Platinum there and not in the precincts of Harare’s National Sports Stadium.

Perhaps all this opening-day drama owes to some teething problems sometimes faced at the beginning of any process since the season is just getting started and while “flight 2018” has just taken off, we hope and pray for a fascinating and smooth sail.

With the momentum getting gathered, we trust we will eventually come right in all the aspects of our game that require our involvement, attention and subsequent perfection. Bad beginnings make great endings, they say.

As such, we will keep our seat belts fastened and fingers crossed.

But luckily, and thankfully so, there were episodes of neither hooliganism or match violence nor grumblings over biased match officiating; two scourges that stalked and blighted our game last season. Long may this continue over the entire season and beyond.

We all, as stakeholders with interest in the game, have a huge role to play in order to ensure that we uphold the integrity of the game; for this is a shared concern and collective responsibility. If it is about football that you care, let’s share the cheer because we are made for the game, mad about the game! Feedback:

What was Mutare City’s home ground last season before being promoted back into the Premiership? This way, teams to be relegated at the end of the season have been decided in the boardroom. Having them play away from home is to make sure that these small teams from small towns or cities only get into the top-flight league to be relegated. Zifa cannot be trusted with money to even help in the development of stadia, let alone soccer across the country. Every season we get the same reason for the same circus. — Richard Mahuhushe Chauke.

May you, please, publish all the Zifa Eastern Region Division One fixtures? Also, try to cover as many teams as you possibly can and not concentrate on just a few, but even those in the lower divisions like Dangamvura United in Division Two. - 0773 033 620.