The current wave of crisis engulfing the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League (PSL) following Motor Action’s boycott of their league match against Caps United at Gwanzura Stadium last Sunday rests squarely on the doorstep of the Zimbabwe Football Association (Zifa) chief executive officer Jonathan Mashingaidze.
The administrator might have caused this entire hubbub after, without invitation, he assumed the running of the top-flight league by engaging Motor Action without the knowledge of his PSL counterpart Kenny Ndebele. Motor Action is an affiliate of the PSL.
Zifa vice-president Ndumiso Gumede made a thinly veiled attack on his chief of secretariat when he backed the PSL in this matter when he said Zifa: “ I think the PSL has the capacity to deal with the matter” adding people must “divorce personality problems from the norms of football administration”.
If Gumede is distancing the football governing body from interference by Mashingaidze, then on whose instructions did the chief executive officer act? Mashingaidze yesterday said: “What I can say is that Motor Action made enquiries about using Rufaro because Nigeria were using the facility to train twice a day. We appreciate that we have a congested calendar and we would like to use any available space.
“Any move that we make is misconstrued as meddling in the PSL, but we don’t run the league. That is all I can say because I haven’t received any communication from the PSL over the issue.”
In his letter to the Mighty Bulls, the former Circle United administrator ordered Ndebele to fixture the match between Caps and Motor Action at Rufaro Stadium contrary to the instruction by Ndebele to have the match at Gwanzura. He wrote: “The Zimbabwe Football Association advises that the match between Motor Action and Caps United will be played at Rufaro Stadium on Saturday April 14 2012.”
But Ndebele yesterday said Zifa overstepped their role: “Zifa should not be involved in the day-to-day running of the league. The closest they can come in the running of the league is appointing match officials. Everything else is determined by the league — the chief executive officer in consultation with the executive management.”
Mashingaidze’s instructions were carried out despite Rufaro Stadium being fully booked for the day. The stadium hosted the visiting Under-20 Nigerian women’s team for a training session before Dynamos and Monomotapa locked horns in a league match.The match between Dynamos and Monoz was moved from the initial venue, the National Sports Stadium, because of Independence rehearsals that were taking place there.
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Such rehearsals take precedence to PSL matches, we all know. Motor Action’s preferred venue, Motor Action Sports Club had been deemed too small to host Caps United, who have a huge following. It was going to be a security gamble.
