IT’S A FIVE-HORSE RACE!

My dearest readers ... Let me state from the onset that I have not quaffed copious amounts of the finest from the Scottish distillers such that it has wiped away about 800 terabytes of my memory but, for once in a long time, we have the most exciting, gruelling, hard-to-predict MTN league title race since this grandson of Mlonyeni began having this Tuesday sports conversation called the State-of-the-Nation-Sports-Address (SONSA) many moons ago.

After this past weekend’s round of ‘WEEK 17’, the league has snowballed into a five-horse race with an equally five teams engaged in a prolonged dance with demotion at the relegation trapdoor.

For two seasons, in particular, reigning league champions, Mbabane Swallows, in a rare feat world over, not only finished two full seasons without a league loss but turned the league title race into a monotonous one horse canter. It was, at times, predictable and boring, such that even the green flies on my Pandora’s Box walls sauntered into slumber-land.

This season, good gracious me, five teams are licking their lips in anticipation of the Holy Grail of local football like a bullfrog readying for a mating session!
Okay, dear reader, get your dirty mind out of the gutter. Heek, heek, heek, heek ... but the season itself, is indeed, orgasmic.

Unlike our haughty neighbour’s ABSA premiership, rightly described by Bidvest Wits Gavin Hunt as a “false league” because of some of the title chasing teams having as much as three games in hand, ours, irrespective of the stadium challenges, has been beautifully consistency. Yes, for once, we have no teams having to deal with CAF Inter-club competitions – as Mamelodi Sundowns and my beloved Orlando Pirates Football Club (yes, the club that gives me more joy and pain than any woman ever could) have to contend with CAF Champions League – which has affected the ABSA Premiership, ours is running smoothly. We have a plethora of mid-week games this week, starting tonight.

Kudos must go to the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) Chairman Peter ‘Touch’ Magagula, his CEO Simanga Nhleko, COO Pat Vilakati and the Executive Committee for managing to achieve this with limited resources.
To put into perspective the excitement of this year’s MTN league – at the top and bottom – one has to borrow the immortal words of former England’s Liverpool FC manager, Bill Shankly. The former ‘Reds’ of Anfield manager once said: “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude, I can assure them, it is much more serious than that,” As things stand, new log leaders Royal Leopard, first round champions, Green Mamba, Ingwenyama Cup finalist, Young Buffaloes, reigning champions, Mbabane Swallows and the country’s football aristocrats Mbabane Highlanders are in the fierce battle for the coveted league crown. Down at the drop zone, rookies, Mbabane Citizens, Vovovo FC, Matsapha United, Tambuti FC and believe it or not, Manzini Wanderers are fighting for their premiership lives.  If that doesn’t get you swinging from your chandeliers, then surely you are as stiff as an ironing board.

As Royal Leopard prepare to face Mbabane Citizen tonight, it is safe to say the game itself is a six-pointer. The police side who jumped to the summit of the log following their 1- win over Manzini Sundowns on Saturday seem to have hit form at the right time with Green Mamba in particular seemingly losing steam at a crucial time of the season. The ‘Correctional Services’ side drab 1-all draw at Mavuso Sports Centre was probably their poorest showing of the season in which they have shown a lot of endeavour and desire to clinch the coveted league title they last won in the 2010-11 season under the tutelage of the dearly departed Francis ‘Mkhulu’ Banda.

However, coach Caleb Ngwenya was calmness personified even when Yours Truly delivered the news that Leopard had assumed pole position in a make-shift press briefing at Mavuso Sports Centre last Saturday. If his team shows the same trait tonight against Manzini Sundowns, who are playing musical chairs with their coaches changing them faster than Neymar Junior changes his hairstyle, it is safe to say ‘Inyoka Eluhlazana’ will re-ignite their championship astuteness again. They have enough ammunition in their arsenal to end the seven year wait for the league title they won in extra-ordinary circumstances on the final day of the season on May 5 2011.

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