Highlanders versus Dynamos red card - too much farce about nothing

(Highlanders and Dynamos rivalry that never ends)

We live in very interesting times with all the unfortunate situations popping up from various sources with unclear intentions but obvious consequences.

To start with, football is a game played under a set of laws and unlike other sports who have rules. And there is a difference between laws and rules.

It must be noted that football is run by the custodians of the game in any given territory, and as an association sport, members who play it, do form that association as they associated.

Those who associated, participate in a league in which they have rules and regulations governing that particular competition. The referee enforces the law at all times and his decisions are final. It is always about his own opinion.

Highlanders and Dynamos played a 1-1 draw over the weekend in a match where one Dynamos player was dismissed (red-carded) for dangerous play. Here we will only use football language. 

Highlanders, like Dynamos, play football under the auspices of association football and are members of Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA), but playing in the competition sanctioned by ZIFA, called the Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League (ZPSL).

ZIFA and ZPSL have competitions and these competitions have the rules governing them and are clear to both parties. Of course, somewhere along the way ther is either a fol, a clown or a vicitm.

One must note that the associations of each territory come together as equal members of an international body called FIFA. FIFA has a special body governing the laws of the game, the IFAB (International Football Association Board).

According to IFAB, only special members can make special decisions outside the field of play. Otherwise, the referee's decisions are final at all times.

This is the reason why the English Premier League can look at the incidents on video and make decisions according. That special dispensation is not common to all members.

One reason for its acceptance in England and possibly a few more members now is that technology available leaves no doubt about anything, as there are multiple cameras to view the same incident.

All said and done, there are always impartial committees to review each incident weekly. These uninterested parties are experts in what they do, in terms of laws and technology.

In the matter at hand, Zimbabwe Referees Committee (ZRC) chairman happens to be the Zimbabwe Football Association chairperson, Philip Chiyangwa. He is a known Dynamos sympathiser.

The question arises as to why he got involved in a Zimbabwe Premier League matter, as the competition is not a ZIFA baby?

ZIFA cannot find themselves handling an appeal from any team for a competition they do not run unless the case has been escalated to that level. To nullify the red card shown to Dynamos striker Christian Epoupa Ntouba on Sunday at Rufaro Stadium shows some form of football illiteracy.

There are few red lights here, given that ZIFA had decided to overrule referee Arnold Ncube's decision without giving reasons and that Dynamos Richard Chihoro said that they had not appealed at all.

Whether it was a Chiyangwa or ZIFA decision, it is a mad decision. Either way, it must be sought to clarify under what condition and auspices such decision was made, like the members present and their capacities.

It must be noted that whether that seating had video analysis and made their decisions made by their opinions of the incident, their opinion does not matter. How many times do people view the same thing for years and fail to agree on the right outcome?

If the referees made the wrong decisions, such committees must not reverse the decisions but either train their personnel or punish the perpetrators. And in any case, there is not a single qualification Chiyangwa holds to sit on that committee.

At some stage, I think this is a nuisance of an incident to receive attention and it can never happen. There are no grounds to implement such a decision.

Dynamos will have to play their next match against Caps United, and if they use the same player, will the ZPSL accept the Cameroonian player in their team sheets? I do not think so. Let us say that the match goes on, and Dynamos use that player, ZPSL can simply dock the points as it is their competition, not ZIFA's competition.

Regarding the ZPSL, there seems to have been no letter or appeal made to them about their own competition, meaning that as far as they are concerned, the noise about this issue is a lot of farce about nothing.

Ncube surely made a report to the owners of the competition. Unless he handed a different story, then the ZPSL have some work to do. For now, they must stay put as they have clear rules and guidelines regarding such matters.

It has been brought to our attention, that the Order 30 of the PSL Rules and Regulations is as follows:

30.1 Any club involved in a match, may lodge a protest with the League in respect of any match played under the auspices of the League provided that:
30.1.2.3 A written protest accompanied by a protest fee of US$1000 (One thousand dollars) is lodged with the General Secretariat of the League within 48 hours (forty-eight) hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays or public holidays) of the game and
30.1.2.4 The written protest referred to in order 30.1 above sets out the full facts on which it is based and refers to the Article and/or rule and regulation allegedly contravened by the offending party; and
30.1.2.5 The protest is not made against the referee’s and/or assistant referee’s decision connected with play, such decisions being final.

Do you think there is anything that Highlanders should worry about? Let us know.

The Premier League needs these changes and now.

The unbranded Zimbabwe Premier Soccer League season is due to end and the league leaders are said to be negotiating with potential ‘sponsors’. The Chief Executive Officer is said not be disclosing those for now and for obvious reasons. Note that I said ‘sponsors’.

Speculation, though very unnecessary, is that it is cellular phone networks that are engaged in the negotiations. If, indeed, there is more than one sponsor, that is very good news, especially if they are not from the same category of business, like banking sector, motor industry and sports wear.

This means the PSL must fight that whosoever they engage to sponsor the league do not walk away without any deal in football. Everyone they are talking to must have room to sponsor the game one way or the other. Such will take away the conflict of interest. If Econet bankroll the league, for an e.g, they will have their name on the kit of the clubs. CBZ can also have their name on the sleeves. There will be room for say LG, Twalumba Holdings, Africa Lotto, Afro Foods and Delta Beverages to have their names at the back of the shirts.

There must be flexibility that those in current negotiations must at least sponsor the clubs, if they fail to secure the real deals. As long as they have interest in the sport, they should not be allowed to have a have all or nothing approach. They need to be utilised and people must support their endeavours as well. There is no better time to work together and it is everybody that has to do it. All must be aboard now.

What is actually needed is that the League ask the government through ZIFA as in the government-to-government basis that brought Reinhard Fabisch and many others after him, for Germany companies like Adidas and/or Puma to kit the league and supply match balls. This must have to come with training as well as warm-up kits. These arrangements are mandatory for any league today, however small. All this, need very aggressive negotiation by the league and the good understanding of industry to participate and involve their customers in the sports and their products.

It is understandable the corruption, the errors, the waywardness of some individuals and teams rocked the country. The new year must see all turn over a new leaf. The PSL must give the captains of industry confidence and the same captains must assure the league of their trust regardless of the the likely teething problems that will surely come their way. The PSL will have power to run and rule the league if they have a muscle, cash in this case. With that, they will be less bad guys and teams as indiscipline will not be tolerated.

Clubs like Dynamos and Highlanders will have the knowledge they can be shown the door and the league will be even smoother in their absence. The league also must have a way of having a full-time CEO or COO who is independent and unaligned in club football. It will be necessary for teams to adhere to the rules and regulations of the league and national association without exceptions. 

Seeking to manipulate every word of these for selfish benefit can be curbed if the league and ZIFA get a full-time Disciplinary Committee chairperson who is a top notch attorney for the disciplinary cases as well as interpretation of documents and other cases within days of their occurrence. This is an area where other sponsors are needed, to pay for the full-time CEO and the Chairperson of the DC, who has capacity to transparently rule on simple cases alone and instantaneously.

The PSL must design means and ways to attract people to the stadia. It must be fun and people must look forward to going to the stadia. Competitions like raffle draws, music performers and artistes must be asked to promote their acts live while fans get free entertainment. There must be aggressive means to market matches.  Clubs must also try to woe their supporters by playing good football. They must give incentives to build brands all want to be associated with.

Finally, both clubs and the league must employ mercenaries to get sponsorship. South Africa had people negotiate multi million rand deal on condition they will receive predetermined cash for it. This works wonders. If one brings say $5 million sponsorship from the diaspora and they walk away $250 000 cash rich, who can complain, and I believe, it will be soon that the PSL will be turning away deals.

What should the league be doing to attract sponsors to come forth?

Tom Saintfeit denied work permit by Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe will have to look for another foreign coach. The nation known to be allergic to success had given a job to Tom Saintfiet of Belgium. The permit application of the former Namibian coach was unsuccessful. It means he has to go back to the Namibian Football Association to beg them to fire the current coach and give him the reigns.

Both clubs and the nation association of this diamond rich football loving state are known to be attracted to the failing foreign coaches. The local coaches have always had successes but that is not always what football there is all about.

Zimbabwe national team qualified for AFCON tournament twice under local coaches and the nation was unhappy with that success. Sunday Marimo and Charles Mhlauri did what foreign coaches will never do for Zimbabwe. Sunday actually took Dynamos to the Champions League finals while Rahman Gumbo has won more trophies and championships than any other local coach and still, Bosso and the nation do not like such success. It makes them vomit.

In 1995, the All-Africa Games under-23 teams reached the finals under Wieslow Grabowski and Barry Daka, yet that counts for nothing. I surely do not think Wieslow would be good enough, but then there are a lot other local coaches. I like foreign coaches, especially their accent when speaking English. The day that nation decides to win anything, they should go local, refrain from interefring with team selection so as to be able to throw games and just pay the coaches.

It is still to be seen how the contract Saintfeit signed will go. ZIFA may have a cool sum to pay for the termination of the contract and one cannot rule out the same mess Highlanders are in with Mohammed Fathi. Bosso are at pains literally, trying to see off their obligation to their favourite coach as the case is attracting the attention of the coach's embassy.

As for Tom, he was disqualified for engaging in employment activity without the necessary permit. ZIFA erred in letting conduct training sessions before the process was complete because they thought 'working' meant sitting on the bench in the match days, in that case, for the AFCON qualifier match against Cape Verde.

After Saintfiet's deportation, Norman Mapeza and Madinda Ndlovu were announced as joint coaches, with Madinda the head and Norman his deputy, by Ben Moyo, but the President of ZIFA gate crushed the training sessions after Moyo left and charged the 2 had 'same powers'. Mapeza has since withdrawn from serving his nation and the mother body confirmed that Mapeza was under-qualified for the job.

Madinda is currently the acting coach of the Warriors as they prepare for a friendly match against Mozambique. He will be assisted by Friday 'Amayenge' Phiri. Should ZIFA re-advertise for the post or they should just leave the Zimbabwe legends to do the job?

Highlanders were duped by Dynamos

In a very clear case of trickery and manipulation, Dynamos dribbled Highlanders and the Premier Soccer League of Zimbabwe in a single swipe of artistry synonymous with the female ZIFA bosses gone by. A simple and swift case of 'tsamaya, 'shibobo', 'show me your number' and 'tsipa', the Glamour Boys left Bosso and the PSL wondering what hit them. After Bosso travelled to Harare for a BancABC semi-final replay fixture at the National Sports Stadium, Dembare refused to kick off.

The match followed the one in which Dynamos took the law into their own hands and walked off the field after a penalty was awarded to Highlanders, and then Bosso reciprocated the gesture. The equalising act ended in the dark and the match was abandoned. The many other stories and issues resulted in a committees entrusted to make football decisions. The Arbitration sub-Committee with a football mentality awarded the match to Dynamos with a 3-0 scoreline.

Highlanders broke protocol by taking a football matter to a court of law, disregarding the ad-hoc committee mandate to have their ruling 'appeal proof'. BancABC threatened to quit football altogether. After frantic efforts by the PSL to try to save the sponsor who is threatening to pull out and with good reason, Dynamos pledged to honour the remaining 9 minutes of the match. Bosso said that Dembare would play themselves for 9 minutes. What goes around comes around.

The court ruling was that the final to be played between the other semi-final winner, Caps United, should not go ahead and that the matter should be exhaustively finalised. As if to compromise, Dynamos agreed to play the match for the good of the game and to save the sponsor. Highlanders thought they prevailed and were also willing to participate in that replay.

With due respect to the law of the territory in which the dispute is taking place, the PSL schedules the match for a neutral venue to take away any form of advantage that may arise and cause the discontent by either party. The match was then penciled for the Baghdad Stadium. Enjoying the new brotherhood of their old rivalry, they both entered an agreement witnessed by the devil, to move the match to Harare. This marriage which Bosso thought was made in heaven was actually made in hell by a Dynamos vampire. Bosso were screwed full time as they had to travel to Harare thinking they will play in that beautiful game that Dynamos knew were taking everyone for a ride. And what a ride for the Bosso players and fans.

The moral of the story; 1. Never appeal an 'appeal proof' decision. It costs money and travel time. It chases away football sponsors. 2. Do not make a pact with a devil from the north. He will dump you and laugh at you for your stupidity, and you will have a lot of travelling alone while that devils is basically home. If a crazy teams walks out at BF, never walk-out and have your fans go hey waya. A committee will award the offender a 3-0 scoreline. 3. If the devil ask your balls in marriage, say NO. He has an ace up his sleeve, more so, will laugh you to scorn until the cows come home.

Hats off to the PSL for the way they tried to do football the football way and shame to Bosso for bringing themselves to this shameful position to start with. Once beaten, I hope never beaten again as Mr Cooper is doing a fantastic job. He must regroup and forget the psychological warfare the Harare team are tyring to play because there is a lot of money in the ZAOGA Jubilee. As for Dynamos, they are dirty squirrels with players involved in dirty money of the Far East in their "national team" duties. They are trying to pull a fast one and of course, you can see how efficiently they pulled off this one that they are pro.

What is next in football in Zimbabwe? They have done everything.