The Sunday News
THE Zimbabwe Women Football executive is set for a collision course with Super League clubs following its decision to levy them $1 000 in affiliation fees.
The clubs felt that the figure was prohibitive considering that they did not generate any income in the form of gate charges at their matches, and that generally they had to meet the other costs associated to their participation in the league.
The clubs met in March and proposed that the affiliation fees be pegged at $500, but the authorities felt that figure was not enough to administer the league.
ZWF boss Miriam Sibanda is adamant that they would not back down saying if a club was able to fulfill fixtures and compete in an 18-team league then they should be able to fork out the $1 000 fee.
She said they wanted to avoid a repeat of last year’s chaotic league that saw some teams failing to travel and fulfill fixtures because of their poor financial situation.
Sibanda said they were eager to deal with those who wanted to play football, and had the means to fulfill their obligations in the Super League.
The ZWF will meet on Wednesday to finalise the issue and also set the date for the commencement of the 2015 league season.
Sibanda rubbished claims that her executive had set stringent conditions in order to run away from an 18-team league to a much leaner one in the event that some clubs failed to affiliate.
She also challenged those teams who could not afford to pay that figure to play in the regional leagues.
“We set several conditions that include teams producing proof that they can travel that include a bank statement showing a balance of $5 000, clubs should also state who their executive members are because we realised that some teams had one or two people doing the work of the whole executive and this impacted negatively on how teams are run.
We want professionally-run clubs,” said Sibanda, adding that owners were the principal sponsors of clubs who should bear the costs while the executive should seek partners to fund the league.
