The Sunday News
ZIMBABWE Women Football Super League clubs have described the 2014 league season that was abruptly ended last weekend by the beleaguered Miriam Sibanda-led executive as the worst they have participated in.
The chorus of condemnation follows cries of maladministration with clubs alleging that they were sidelined in decision making by the ZWF board they put into office in March last year.
Although there were a string of gaffes that the football women’s board had made before and during the course of the season, those were outweighed by the authorities’ decision to end the league prematurely last Sunday despite the fact that no single team managed to complete the mandatory 26 games.
Flame Lily was declared the winner with six games to spare having amassed 53 points, while Black Rhinos who were on 49 points from 18 games came second.
Clubs said the fact that the Super League kicked off without any rules and regulations mirrors the shambolic way in which it was ended.
Despite clubs being forced to pay players’ licence fees, they were not issued with relevant documentation, a scenario that led to disputes related to player movement with some changing clubs willy-nilly.
According to impeccable sources some clubs were now demanding licence fee refunds amounting up to $5 per player.
Another contentious issue that riled clubs was the relegation format that would see six teams being booted out of the Super League with the bottom four going out automatically while the ZWF board will select two at their discretion.
Several clubs’ officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said declaring that the league had ended went against football rules and certainly rendered the past season a social league not topflight football.
They said the board never made an effort to accommodate teams who were struggling financially but just forced teams to fulfil fixtures.
An official from a Harare-based team said it was shocking how the board could just let Bulawayo-based side New Orleans crumble when it had a rich history in women football.
“New Orleans is among the first teams to play women’s soccer in the country with impressive achievements and they provided the bulk of the national team players for a long time, even national team coach, Rosemary Mugadza and under-20 team coach Sithethelelwe Sibanda are products of New Orleans but the board seems to be happy such a team is not kicking the ball. Why?” said the official.
The clubs also questioned the relegation format saying it was retrogressive as it had not been announced at the beginning of the season.
An official said the board failed to come up with the relegation format from the start and for them to make a decision now was not in accordance with football principles.
“All leagues, wherever in the world, release rules and regulations at kick-off, including the relegation format, but that did not happen with the Super League and the way things were handled we feel it was nothing more than social soccer.
“Why are they saying teams should be relegated on their financial status? Are they aiming for a league that only has well to do teams?” questioned the official.
The officials met at the beginning of this month and declared that the league would end on 15 February, without giving out clear reasons.
Contacted for comment board member competitions, Cecilia Gambe downplayed the issue saying clubs had the last say.
She said although the board had made the decisions, those were not yet cast in stone and clubs would be given the opportunity to overturn them.
“We are meeting on Saturday (yesterday) and teams will decide the fate of the Super League including relegation. However, I do not believe any team should lose out but everything should be thrashed out at tomorrow’s meeting,” said Gambe on Friday.
