ZIFA has distanced itself from the Bob90 semi-final clash between Highlanders and Harare City played at Barbourfields Stadium last Sunday, saying they believed it was a friendly match.
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There has been an outcry over the use of Cosafa tickets for the match with Zifa saying they were only brought in because fans were already at the match venue and their aim was to avert violence. Zifa vice-president Ndumiso Gumede said they did not receive official communication from the organisers.
“On Sunday midday, I received a call from Highlanders chairman Peter Dube when I was coming from church and he told me that Harare City had slept in Bulawayo, but they (Bosso) had been told that the match would not go ahead.
“The match had not been sanctioned by the party (Zanu PF), but people were already at Barbourfields. So I said the match could go ahead as a friendly match. We were averting a potential disaster as some people were already there,” he said.
Gumede said it meant he had to do the logistics as there were no tickets for the match.
“We had to find old tickets and make do with those. Those tickets are obsolete and we keep them for audit purposes. I agreed in order to avert problems,” the veteran football administrator said.
He added: “We were not officially told as Zifa that the tournament would go ahead. Last year the organisers tried very hard to sideline Zifa; they even refused to acknowledge the match commissioner.
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“We were told that it was a party (Zanu PF) programme and we had nothing to do with it. I complained to (then Sports deputy minister Lazarus) Dokora and he said we could not be treated like this and said he would look into the issue,” Gumede said.
He said they had nothing to do with the tournament as “we were told it was ‘their’ tournament. So they had to organise the tickets, advertising and also get their personnel. We are officially entitled to a percentage to the tickets that were sold and we have to bill the organisers for the tickets used.”
The Premier Soccer League (PSL) also said they had no involvement in the match.
“We had nothing to do with the tournament. If the mother body was there, we are too small for that. So we are not there,” PSL chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele said.
Zanu PF secretary for youth Absolom Sikhosana apparently wrote to Zifa at the end of January advising that the Bob 90 Super Cup had been cancelled.
