FORGETTABLE ‘BIRDS’ CARDS

NHLANGANO – Embarrassment.

This best describes the scenario that played itself out at the King Sobhuza II Memorial Stadium in Nhlangano yesterday where the MTN Premier League match pitting Mbabane Swallows and Royal Leopard was called off by match officials without the ball being kicked. Even more astonishing was the revelation afterwards that the reason for the cancellation of the game was due to failure by Swallows, one of the country’s highly regarded sides, to produce registration cards. After giving Swallows the stipulated 15 minutes grace period as stated in the league’s rules and regulations to comply with the card checking formalities, match commissioner William ‘Mantongomane’ Shongwe, after consultation with the referees, took the decision to call off the game. This was after he had informed officials from both sides, being Swallows’ General Manager Sandile ‘Beyond 2000’ Zwane and Frank Hurube from Royal Leopard that the rules were compelling him to call off the match.

persuade

Worth noting is that Shongwe made no secret of the fact that he made an attempt to persuade Leopard officials to continue with the game while waiting for the registration cards to arrive but to no success. Leopards officials were adamant that the rules needed to be applied accordingly and this subsequently led to the game being cancelled. Disappointment and disbelief was written all over the faces of Swallows officials, players and a group of supporters when the message was relayed that the game would not see the light of day. It is now expected that Shongwe will submit his match report to the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) with Swallows highly likely to be charged for the offence.

rules

“The rules of the game were followed accordingly, which was giving Mbabane Swallows the 15 minutes grace period to produce the registration cards, failing which the game had to be called off. It is true that I tried to persuade Leopard to continue with the game while waiting for the cards to arrive but unfortunately, it could not happen because they insisted on the rules being respected,” the former elite league referee said. Efforts to get a comment from Swallows officials failed as none were co-operative including their Communications and Marketing Manager Mancoba Mabuza, who uncharacteristically closed the window of his car when attempts were made to get his comment.

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