WHAT A FOOTBALL INJUSTICE

An injured fan being taken away during the derby mayhem at Somhlolo National Stadium. (File Pic)

MBABANE – The verdict by the Vusi Maziya-led National Football Association of Swaziland (NFAS) Disciplinary Committee that the December 7, 2014 Mbabane derby be replayed has laid bare the dark side of local football for all to see.

Those who have followed local game for years now need no reminder of how dirty the politics of the game are and how they stole the beautiful game. We all know how one team has benefited over years by having their officials littered in the football corridors of power – and at high government offices - subverting the truth, shifting the goal-posts and getting favours even from match officials.

This status quo is as old as the game itself. As a result, some of the dyed-in-the-wool traditionalists who support this team, invariably believe football belongs to them – and the rest can go fly a kite.  The shift in the balance of power, in particular with the advent of the Premier League of Swaziland (PLS) Board of Governors and Executive Committee – under a new structure – has been a pain in their posterior.

For years, they have made numerous attempts to bring back football “in our hands” through a Management Committee where they can then put their own people in place to run the Premier League of Swaziland (PLS). They just cannot accept that this is not 1980 – it’s 2015 and things change. They are new role players in the landscape of Swazi football. It is giving them sleepless nights. For all I care, they can go drown in the nearest pond. Football is not them. It is the people’s game.

In the chamber of chaos that is the South African Parliament, that enfant terrible Julius Malema cries about ‘bring back our money’ to Msholozi, they are crying about ‘bring back our football’ to the PLS, directed mainly to its chairman Victor ‘Maradona’ Gamedze, the persona-non-grata of local football.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: