The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube Sports Correspondent
THE Premier Soccer League has written to Zifa asking them to set in motion a process that will result in the creation of a mediation body following an upsurge in the number of players dragging their clubs to the Labour Court. PSL chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele said they were worried about the increase in the number of disputes finding their way to the Labour Court and that they felt football issues should be resolved within the football set-up hence the call for a dispute resolution chamber.
Ndebele said there was an urgent need for such a set-up, which by now they felt should be up and running.
The PSL boss said while it was within the footballers’ rights to approach the courts in the event of breach of contract; they (PSL) felt it was in the best interest of the game to have a body that was within the confines of the football world.
“We believe the body will give us an environment where we can resolve our differences without going to bodies outside football.
“Such a body would have an equal number of player representatives and those forwarded by clubs. We appreciate the role the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe is playing in assisting players seeking clubs to meet their part of the agreements and we would not want to undermine that,” said Ndebele, adding that they were crafting a specimen they wanted to use as a standard player contract to ensure there were fewer disputes arising when players parted ways with clubs.
The contract would be available to all clubs.
FUZ secretary general Paul Gundani said they had on numerous occasions appealed to both PSL and Zifa for the need of such a body.
Gundani said they were encouraged by the efforts that Ndebele was making towards the creation of the body and would welcome its existence.
