PLE STUCK IN FIRST DIVISION LEAGUE DILEMMA

MBABANE – Stucks!

This word describes the situation the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) finds itself in with just under a month before the new season 2021/22 kicks off in mid-October. A master fixture for the elite league is already in place as reported by this publication last week, with mouth-watering opening fixtures underway. The highlight games for the grand opening week involve champions Royal Leopard against bitter rivals Mbabane Swallows as well as another clash between army side and last season’s runners-up Young Buffaloes against Mbabane Highlanders. Under normal circumstances, the two leagues’ fixtures go side by side but the PLE, it has been established, have difficulty coming up with next season’s fixtures. This is more so because there had been no promotion from the regional super leagues which were stalled in March last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This has left the PLE with just 10 teams in National First Division League after the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Executive decided against their proposal to preserve the four teams due for relegation to the idle regional leagues. Even in the correspondence by the PLE which has the elite league master fixture schedule, it is stated by the organisation’s Chief Operations Officer (COO) Pat Vilakati that the First Division League schedule would be ‘communicated in due course’.

Rules

During the PLE’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), the organisation’s Chairman Mark Carmichael declared they would play by the rules in as far as relegation was concerned, affirming what the EFA Executive Committee which he is part of, had ruled.
The PLE had written a letter to the EFA requesting for non-relegation on the grounds that the regional leagues were idle last season. However, the four clubs, Rail United, Sisonke FC, Umbelebele and Ludzeludze Killers are going down as per last season’s league rules and regulations. “We relegated as per the Rules and Regulations and our Constitution mentions promotion of four super league teams to our league. So, we are waiting for those four teams,” responded the PLE COO yesterday.

Vilakati emphasised that they announced relegation of the four clubs in their AGM and those four members had already received their official letters confirming their status for next season. “Yes, we had written a letter to the EFA requesting that we don’t relegate as the super leagues were idle but still, we relegated and are now waiting for the EFA’s direction,” he added. Meanwhile, EFA Competitions Committee Chairman Johannes ‘Ace’ Siboza had said the only issue to deal with was promotion from the regional leagues to the second tier league and that would be dealt with once the EFA had government’s directive on resumption of all football.

government

“There were diverse means to resolve the matter but at the moment, we will wait until we know what government’s directive is,” he said when recently questioned about the matter. In essence, the First Division League’s kick-off may be delayed or if not, it stands to resume with 10 clubs while the EFA works on promotion of the four regional clubs to first division.

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