CANCELLED!

MBABANE – The final decision has been made.

It has been reliably gathered that the decision to cancel the current football season has been made by the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Executive Committee led by Adam ‘Bomber’ Mthethwa. 

The committee met last night at Sigwaca House and after a few hours of deliberations, the decision to cancel the season was taken by the members. 

It is worth noting that executive committee members were given strict instructions to keep the decision under wraps until all the relevant sponsors are officially informed before the end of today.

“Executive committee members have been warned against leaking information to the media on the decision taken, which is to cancel the season. This is meant to protect the interests of the different sponsors because they must be informed first about the decision before it can be relayed to the public. It is for that reason the decision will not be accessible to the media until sponsors are informed,” a trusted EFA source confided last night. 

Sponsors

The sponsors will be informed of the decision by the office of EFA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Frederick Mngometulu today. This means that the wish by the EFA to conclude the remaining MTN Premier League and EswatiniBank Cup games will no longer be realised.

“There are two prime reasons that motivated the decision to cancel the season. You will recall that the EFA had requested government to permit the restart of games but the response has been negative. It has been made clear to football authorities that football will not be allowed to return due to the rising cases of COVID-19 in the country. The other reason is the issue of the constitution because the affiliates must hold their annual general meetings (AGMs) that have already been delayed as we were waiting for this decision,” the source revealed. 

The EFA tried to motivate their request to government by stating that Sihlangu would be back in action in October during the COSAFA Cup hence there was need for the games to resume, to improve the fitness levels of the players. However, the Sihlangu factor could not convince government to change their stance. 

According to unconfirmed reports, the decision to cancel the season will allegedly see no relegation in the premier league with teams increased to 16.  

This, however, could not be ascertained at the time of compiling this report last night. It is expected that the EFA will call a press conference today to officially announce their decision. 

Mngometulu was contacted last night but his cellphone rang unanswered. 

The association’s Marketing and Communications Officer Muzi Radebe said he was not part of the meeting hence not privy to what was discussed. 

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: