PLE BACKS MISBEHAVING FANS BAN

MBABANE – The Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) postponed the Week 11 fixtures to put their house in order after the skirmish events that occured during games.

The Eswatini football has witnessed two disturbing mayhems in a month, as supporters bayed referees, allegedly accusing them for poor refereeing in games. The incidents involved the capital city giants, Mbabane Highlanders and Mbabane Swallows. In the first mayhem at Mavuso Sports Centre, Highlanders supporters invaded the pitch in pursuit of referee Mbongeni Shongwe, whom they accused of allowing a goal scored by Manzini Sea Birds’ Sandumenzi Zwane by a hand. The black and white Mbabane side ended up losing the game.

The next incident occurred at the same venue, this past Saturday, whereby Swallows supporters invaded the pitch, with an intension to deal with referee Thembinkosi Dlamini, whom they accused of ruling against a goal by Felix ‘Fela’ Badenhorst, which was levelling matters against Highlanders and the latter eventually won by a 2-1 scoreline.

Security

This incident had not gone unnoticed, as some sectors wanted games involving the big teams not to be hosted at Mavuso, citing that it lacked security as the venue did not have fence around the pitch to prevent supporters from entering into the field. On Monday during the Eswatini Broadcasting and Information Services (EBIS) Sports Show, Umkhonto KaShaka General Manager (GM) Sandile ‘Beyond 2000’ Zwane said suggested that the PLE  should take their game against Manzini Wanderers to a secure stadium  like Somhlolo National Stadium to avoid any possible threat.

The PLE chief executive officer (CEO) revealed that such could not happen as the timeframe for the refurbishment of the ‘mecca’ of Eswatini football was not known and this was one of the reasons why the games had been postponed to look  for solutions. “I saw a correspondence from Swallows, but I don’t know what’s in it as I am currently busy with the situation of the violence in games,” Makhanya said.

He said this was part of the reason the games had been postponed as they were in the dark on where Swallows wanted to play if they did not want to use Mavuso Sports Centre. “We postponed the games to make match assessments as stakeholders, especially on match organisation, starting from lack of stadiums in the country suitable for games of a certain level ,” he said.
Banning
He also said as an organisation they were happy to learn that some of the teams had taken the initiative to deal with the misbehaving supporters by banning them from attending their games, which he said was a right step towards curbing the violence in the field of play.
“It started with Wanderers telling some of their fans not to attend games, now its Moneni Pirates, this is one system we need as PLE and we will support the teams. We are now living in an unfortunate situation, whereby our community is no longer a peace loving nation. We stopped the games to assess how we can all be safe in our games,” he said.
He further said the local clubs failed to take the initiative to try and buy land to construct their own playing ground. He finally said as PLE they would take the responsibility on behalf of the teams to engage the security forces as well as the Ministry of Health for the provision of paramedics as he said it was embarrassing to see players being stretched off by hands.
The PLE has postponed the league fixtures until next year, which means the supporters will be starved football action for the next three weeks as the games will return on January 4, 2023.

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