CARDS CONFUSION AS PIRATES, PEACEMAKERS CLASH CANCELLED

MHLUME – An empty stadium with zero action.

You can blame it on late registration of players, but disappointment and confusion were written all over the faces of players along with officials that were hoping to watch the MTN Premier League opening match between Moneni Pirates and Mhlume Peacemakers, which ended up being a non-starter. Also witness to this embarrassing scenario at Nsukuwansuku Stadium in Mhlume was Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) Chief Operations Officer (COO) Pat Vilakati, who could only confirm that the match billed for 1:30pm had been cancelled.
Pressed further, Vilakati insisted that he would only comment on the matter once the referees’ reports were submitted to his office, expectedly before the end of business on Tuesday.
“As the Premier League of Eswatini, we did all we could for the games to play as we came prepared with the PPE and sanitisers. I can’t comment on what happened behind the scenes but I will wait for the official report from the match officials and then take it from there. Obviously, this tournament is guided by rules and regulations which will apply if need be,” Vilakati said.

Eventual cancellation

Independent investigations by the sports desk uncovered that the deciding factor leading to the eventual cancellation of the match was because Pirates allegedly failed to produce registration cards for their squad. Sources close to the matter disclosed that only five players from the Manzini giants allegedly had been registered and it later transpired that some Pirates officials were reportedly trying means to get hold of the registration cards by noon from the PLE office, hoping to make it to the playing venue which is about three hours away from the capital city.

Had only five cards

“Moneni Pirates had only five cards and the rules are clear that only registered players are eligible to play in such games while five players cannot constitute a team in terms of the rules,” claimed the source. Worth noting is that these are allegations that could not be ascertained at the time of going to press. The club’s head-coach, Ernest Mavuso vehemently disputed these allegations, insisting that all 17 of his players including those in the starting line-up and reserves had their cards in order and were ready for action. “We were here by12:40pm and ready for the match. It’s just that we could not complete registering all 35 players and we are disappointed that the match was cancelled,” said the experienced Mavuso.

Disturbed their plans

Meanwhile, his counterpart at Peacemakers Bongmusa Nxumalo described the cancellation of the game as a set-back for his team, arguing that it disturbed their plans. “We came to this game well-prepared and in high spirits only for the match to be cancelled. We had two months of full training and I am confident that we would have won,” the clearly confident Nxumalo declared. Fortunately, the other match pitting Correctional Services outfit Green Mamba against Milling Hotspurs played at the same venue proceeded without hiccups.

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