IN REACTION TO CONTENTIOUS AMBULANCES ISSUE: PLE ISSUES ULTIMATUM TO CLUBS

MBABANE – Any team that will now refuse to play as a result of a lack of an ambulance in stadiums will face the music.

The Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) has made it clear that in such occurrences, any team that will be found guilty for refusing to play will be risking to forfeit the match and be fined up to E50 000. This is in accordance with a memo that was released yesterday notifying teams that PLE has now reached an agreement with the Department of Emergency Service to provide ambulances during games.

“The PLE notes with great concern the prevalent abandonment of Premier League games purportedly on account of a Medical Rule that requires the presence of an Ambulance and Advanced Life Support paramedic at the stadium. “The safety of players, officials and spectators is paramount in any games by the PLE and there can never be a reason to compromise on safety whatever the circumstances,” reads part of the memo.

Released

However, the memo released by PLE Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Kenneth Makhanya, stressed that there could be instances where there might be no ambulances in the stadiums, but still they expected games to be played. “Where an effort to secure an ambulance has been made by the PLE Secretariat and such effort fails due to the non-availability of this scarce national resource, Premier League games will proceed and there will be no just reason to abandon PLE games. “Each team should ensure that it has a vehicle available to evacuate any of its members that is referred to a hospital by the doctors at the stadium,” reads the memo.

Notable is that there have been two games that had been cancelled a fortnight ago on the grounds of unavailability of an ambulance in stadiums.
The first match was a Premier League match between Madlenya and Manzini Sea Birds which was called off after half time. The other included a National First Division (NFD) game between Ubombo Flyers and Milling Hot Spurs, which was abandoned after 70 minutes. Meanwhile, some games have also experienced delayed kick-off as a result of visiting clubs refusing to play without the visibility of an ambulance. The memo also stated that any team that will dare refuse to play shall be deemed to have caused the abandonment of the game.

Guilty

According to Article 7.22 of the MTN rules and regulations, any team that is found guilty of causing the abandonment of the game forfeits the match and shall be liable to a fine not less than E50 000. “Where a game is abandoned by the conduct of a team participating in this competition or its players, fans, officials and/or supporters and after a disciplinary hearing the team is found guilty of having caused the abandonment of the game, then such team shall lose the match, with three (3) points and three (3) goals awarded to their opponents.

“Further, the team shall be liable to pay a fine of not less than E50 000 if the team is a first offender and a fine of not less than E100 000 if the team is a second offender,” states Article 7.22 of the 2022/2023 MTN Premier League Rules and Regulations. In case there is no ambulance, both hosting and visiting clubs are expected to make means to avail a vehicle to evacuate any of its members who are referred to a hospital by the doctors at the stadium. They will be further required to ensure that their team doctors are in attendance and available from the time that the team arrives at the venue until the team leaves.

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