Ndoro saga blights a good week
South African football experienced the good, the bad and ugly in a matter of few days this week.
In an unprecedented move, the final standings of the Absa Premiership was decided in the boardroom, barely a week after Mamelodi Sundowns were officially crowned champions.
The changes came after the tribunal found Ajax Cape Town guilty of fielding striker Tendai Ndoro in contravention of Fifa regulations that prohibit players from turning out for more than two teams in the same calendar year.
It still boggles the mind though, why the Premier Soccer League issued Ndoro with a playing card in the first place.
Surely those in charge of player registrations at PSL failed in their duty to verify the player’s status, which could have averted the legal wrangle that led to Ajax’s demotion and the reinstatement of Platinum Stars in the promotion/relegation playoffs.
We agree with those who are calling for the PSL to do away with the playoffs and reconsider promoting two first division teams, who in turn will swap places with the two bottom-placed Premiership sides.
Amid all these, we feel for Nedbank Cup finalists Free State Stars and Maritzburg United.
Apart from being overshadowed by the Ndoro saga, tomorrow’s final also played second fiddle to the hype of La Liga champions FC Barcelona being in town for the Nelson Mandela’s Centenary Challenge against Sundowns.
We also urge the fans to show the same love for Maritzburg and Stars at the Cape Town Stadium tomorrow.
There are many lessons that should be noted from the Downs Barca game on Wednesday, the most significant being the logistics put in place at such short notice for a midweek fixture that attracted a crowd of 80 000.
We hope the same enthusiasm would be channeled into tomorrow’s final, which also takes place at a Fifa World Cup stadium.
As for the Ndoro debacle, we hope that justice prevails, lest the matter do even more harm to the local game, beset as it is with many other challenges.
We hope it all won’t come back to bite the PSL, as sponsors – we can imagine – wouldn’t want their names associated with this kind of negativity. Our football does not need that either.