Times Of Swaziland: CAN OF WORMS OPENED

CAN OF WORMS OPENED
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BY Lwazi's Pandora's Box on 11/05/2021 08:30:00


My dearest readers ...
Before I penned this State-of-the-Nation-Sports-Address (SONSA) yesterday a
former Sports Editor sent me a message, asking politely; “The PLE must be the
only league in the world where it’s so easy to call off a game than for it to
be played. Yini i-purpose ye-league akusiko kudlalisa ema-games yini? Ngoba
ngatsi they derive pleasure in cancelling them than seeing them being played,”
was his missive. I could not stop laughing. You know things that actually make
you laugh when you are supposed to cry or be livid often happen in our football.
In our football if you want to go east, suggest west. If you want bread, ask for
a stone. Almost a month ago, actually on April 11, 2021, at the self-same King
Sobhuza II Memorial Stadium, an A-category fixture pitting Royal Leopard against
Mbabane Swallows was called off after it turned out the latter could not produce
registration cards.
Embraced
This happening at a time when registration of players is done online clearly
showed that we have not embraced the digital migration in our football. Swallows
were rightly penalised for forgetting to bring their registration cards but in
all honesty, in this day and age, we should not be talking about registration
cards as everything is now done digitally. That such a prime fixture had to be
called off for that reason clearly shows how backwards we are. If that should
have made our football authorities raise the standards, here comes a case of a
Moneni Pirates player, Menzi ‘Magawugawu’ Simelane a month later literally
opening a can of worms.
With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, our rules might have clauses that
cover the ‘new normal’ but still it has a lot of gaps with regard to
duration of the testing period. It is left to everyone’s interpretation. But
then again, in the case of ‘Magawugawu’ Simelane, if indeed his results do
not show whether he tested negative or positive, then certainly a lot of
questions need to be asked how he has been playing using the same inconclusive
results? Lest we forget, all the players in the league tested two months ago yet
they have been playing three times in a week. Let me problematise (sorry I have
made up this word) the issue further. The compliance officers who should be
checking all these COVID-19-related issues, why didn’t they pick it up that
Menzi ‘Magawugawu’ Simelane’s COVID-19 test certificate had discrepancies?