CHUDZE MANIKINIKI!

My dearest readers ... The most important thing in any league, are its fixtures. Fixtures are like birthdays, weddings and New Year’s Eve. Those days evoke a certain emotion in people.

They engender a feeling of renewal, a feeling of a beginning and a feeling of total ecstasy.

This season, 2017/18 MTN Premier League, has in many ways, evoked memories which we will all take to our graves because of the palpable excitement, wondrous goals, scintillating football, the tension, the thrills and shocks. The ultimate competition under the banner ‘Chudze Manikiniki’, has endeared a special kind of feeling of its own.

From the memorable Friday night of September 8 when Pirates scored, in the words of one Jose Mourinho, a ‘goal from the moon’ – the ball never crossed the line – in a 1-0 victory over Vovovo FC and ambitious Matsapha United shocked Royal Leopard in a 2-0 win, the stage was set for what will certainly go down as the most competitive league ever. Then on Sunday, September 10, Highlanders were kamikaze in the 4-1 annihilation of pitiful Manzini Wanderers.  Swallows, the defending champions, dug deeper into their reserves of courage to keep a marauding Young Buffaloes at bay in a game which ultimately ended in a 1-all draw.

Since then, the twists and turns in the MTN League have left some of us who drink, eat, sleep football with high octane energy like a drug addict high on Nyaope. I admit, I am a football addict, finish n’ klaar. Unapologetically so.
The past weekend, in particular, the official grand opening on Sunday gave an indication that this year’s MTN league competition is not for the faint-hearted.

This is not just this lowly newspaperman accentuating the positives about the league – ranked 14th in Africa – but the numbers on the terraces speak louder than words. Those worshipping on the altar of football are coming to the stadium in droves like moths to light.
In almost all venues around the country, the attendance is very encouraging though there are some stadiums like Killarney which proved to be a nightmare for the visitors Manzini Sundowns as the dense fog made playing impossible.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: