ZIFA mum on Tenax FC plea
ZIFA Manicaland Division Two outfit, Chicken Inn are now part of the Eastern Region Division One League following their triumphant campaign during the promotional playoffs played at Mutare Boys’ High last Saturday.
Playoffs bridesmaids, Destiny Stars now await the response from Eastern Region Soccer League following recommendations made by ZIFA Manicaland’s leadership to have the team promoted to Division One.
However, chances are high that Destiny Stars might also be accommodated, given that ERSL is now more of an invitational league due to the harsh economic conditions that have rendered most clubs unable to finance participation in one of the country’s four second tier leagues.
In an interview on the sidelines of the playoffs at Mutare Boys’ High, ZIFA
Manicaland chairperson, Kuziwa Nyabeze, congratulated Chicken Inn FC for clinching the coveted promotion into the ERSL.
Nyabeze confirmed that they will be making recommendations for Destiny Stars to be accommodated in the ERSL.
“We are happy with the level of competition we have witnessed this season from the Division Two affiliate leagues. The appetite for success was high and that is good for the development of the game in the province.
“It is against that background that we would like to congratulate Chicken Inn FC for winning promotion into the Eastern Region Division One League.
“We will also make recommendations to have playoffs runners-up, Destiny Stars be accommodated in the Eastern Region Division One League because we feel that they have what it takes to partake in that league,” said Nyabeze.
Winners Chicken Inn FC, runners-up, Destiny Stars, La Sakubva and Rating FC took part in the annual end of season ZIFA Manicaland Division Two promotional playoffs.
Such is the touch of class in the Zifa Manicaland structures that all the four teams that took part in last Saturday’s playoffs walked away with new kits.
During the playoffs, Chicken Inn walloped hapless Rating 4-0 in one of the semi-finals, while La Sakubva and Destiny Stars were only separated in the penalty lottery shoot-out after the two teams had remained deadlocked on a nil-all scoreline during regulation time.
Destiny Stars won 5-4 in the penalty shoot-out.
In the playoffs final encounter, both teams settled for a one-all stalemate during regulation time, and winners Chicken Inn grabbed the silverware, thanks to a 4-1 triumph in the dreaded penalty shoot-out.
THERE has been abnormal silence from the ZIFA Normalisation Committee over the contentious boardroom promotion of Bikita Minerals FC into the Premier Soccer League, a decision that league winners, Tenax FC have prayed for the intervention of both the NC and Sports and Recreation Committee (SRC).
It is now two weeks after the Eastern Region Soccer League administration made the contentious decision to award maximum points to Bikita Minerals FC from their season final match against Grayham FC, a development that propelled the lithium miners onto the top of the Eastern Region Division One League and automatically gift them the much coveted Premiership promotion.
The match had ended on a one-all stalemate. Bikita Minerals FC approached ERSL administration, complaining about the use of an ‘ineligible player’ by Grayham FC. In the absence of one of their committee members, the ERSL four-member committee — two of them who were present at the ill-fated Bikita Minerals FC and Grayham FC match venue — convened a ‘meeting’ to address the issue and decided to award Bikita Minerals FC maximum points, thereby handing the lithium miners promotion into the Premier Soccer League ahead of Tenax FC who had ended the season on top
of the ERSL log standings, thanks to the prison wardens’ two points lead. When this newspaper sought the ZIFA Normalisation Committee’s response to the plea for intervention made by Tenax FC, chief executive, Yvone Manwa pledged to respond to questions emailed early last week. Since then, Manwa has incessantly been promising to respond, only to provide a vague response early this week saying: “We have hit a snag”. When contacted for comment, Tenax FC chairperson, Stafani Masina said: “We are of the opinion that we deserve to be crowned Eastern Region Division One champions.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions including the body that presided over the so-called Bikita Minerals/Grayham hearing. We have pleaded with the ZIFA Normalisation Committee as well as Sports and Recreation Commission to intervene and solve this impasse, but up to now we are still waiting for their response.
“This is not the end of it all. There are other avenues and options that we are still weighing as a club in the event that we fail to get satisfactory response from the two bodies we have approached for assistance.”