WE NEED A HEALTHY FOOTBALL SEASON

Sir,

By the time you read this, the MTN Premier League would have kicked-off with a triple-header featuring back again capital city giants, Mbabane Highlanders against army side, Young Buffaloes, then Manzini Wanderers against Manzini Sundowns and finally, reigning quadruple kings, Royal Leopard against, Swazi Telecom Charity Cup champions, Mbabane Swallows in one of the most entertaining grand opening to ever grace the Somhlolo National Stadium.

Worth noting is that out of the six teams, five of them are fresh from participating in the recently ended Swazi Telecom Charity Cup, with Swallows and Leopard meeting in the final where the Mbabane giants triumphed. It goes without saying that the 2014/15 season promises to be a competitive and entertaining one, and surely local football fans should brace themselves for a healthy football season.

With the country’s big three; Swallows, Highlanders and Wanderers showing strong content for honours this time around, there is a glimmer of hope that the standard of the game is set to reach greater heights. With their formidable squads towards the new season these three most supported sides will surely drive hordes of football followers to the stadiums. What with the revived rivalry between Swallows and Highlanders which was the missing link last season. No doubt, there is a lot in store for the supporters in the Mbabane derby. History has it that the last time the two giants met was when Highlanders ran amok to crush the then treble champions 5-1 to reclaim the bragging rights. Indeed sparks are set to fly when the two sides cross swords again.

The dominance of the armed forces teams is under threat and sooner or later it will be brought to an abrupt halt as Swallows has already done by dethroning the police ensemble the Charity Cup title. This is surely bringing a lot of entertainment to the football followers who are always yearning for more football action - and of course, sheer football artistry. To spice up the competition, the sponsors; MTN Swaziland has set aside E250 000 prize money for a team that will be on top of the log when the first round ends, not to mention the whopping E600 000 prize for the league champions. Surely this is a potent recipe for a competitive season. As if that is not enough, there are a lot interesting promotions for fans as witnessed in the grand opening with lucky fans taking home lot of prizes courtesy of MTN.

The challenge now is on the teams to prove their worth, and this can be achieved by displaying good football that will attract huge spectatorship from all corners of this tiny Kingdom of eSwatini. As part of the game, the teams must be seen practising FIFA’s fair play rules in all aspects, hence I’m prompted to throw the gauntlet to the teams’ officials to ensure that the actions does not incite hooliganism. The same goes to the supporters, they must bear in mind that violence is not a way of raising a concern-there are always procedures of registering grievances as stipulated in the rules and regulations of the tournament. At this juncture we cannot afford to witness scenes of violence in our stadiums perpetuated by either muti allegations within teams’ camps and/or by wayward fans who cannot accept the result obviously demonstrating their displeasure in referees’ absurd decisions. In essence, at this time of the century we cannot afford to see a lack of sportsmanship by the football stakeholders for we have the vision 2022 as presented by the Victor ‘Maradona’ Gamedze-led Premier League of Swaziland(PLS) executive recently.

It is a fervent wish of every football loving person to see improvement in the way local football is run, and that can be definitely accomplished by collective responsibility from all the relevant stakeholders. And of course, it is the responsibility of everyone who genuinely loves Swazi football to ensure that the environment is conducive enough for anyone to enjoy the entertainment associated with the sport. We really appreciate the great endeavours made by the PLS in terms of administration thus one cannot cease to urge them to continue thrive for improvement. As stressed by Ambrose Dlamini, the MTN Chief Executive Officer (CEO) during the launch of the MTN Premier League on Wednesday, there is a need to reflect on the past season and prioritise improvement in the game and its administration.

Talking of reflecting on the past season, it is imperative to sort the issue of loans and fines by teams who are now failing to settle their debts resulting in the suspension of the loan scheme. The issue of paying loans and fines in one account raised by the auditors also deserves utmost attention for the organisation to be transparent in as far as movement of monies is concerned. I won’t say much about the PLS Under-20 league which is facing arduous challenge in terms of sponsorship due to delayed grant, however, please allow me Mr editor to tackle this issue in my next writing.

Comfort Jele, Hawane

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