SEA BIRDS, CALLIES FACE AXE

MBABANE – Shocker!

Elite sides Manzini Sea Birds and Tambankulu Callies are defaulters in the MTN Premier League, after failing to adhere to a 30-day temporary permit or provisional club licence granted by the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) to register Under-15 and Under-19 development sides, despite an instruction to do so by the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) and the former as sports was back to normal after COVID-19 subsided.  This licence expires after 30 days, wherein trouble begins.

PLE Board of Governors (BoGs) who are mainly the teams’ owners, were shocked to learn of the news when the EFA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Frederick Mngomezulu tabled his report on CAF club licensing. This topic was part of the PLE BoGs Workshop at Happy Valley Hotel and Casino in Ezulwini last Saturday, where the EFA CEO was included to present licensing issues for next season. Inevitably, the report started from the current season which has already gone through its two transfer window periods.

PLE encouraged its elite member clubs to register the junior teams in the first registration window last year, some managed to do so for both age groups, while others did one and only completed the process in the recently ended second and final window, last month. However, it came out from Mngomezulu’s report as the BoGs questioned him with interest over junior teams’ registration, that Sea Birds and Callies dismally failed to register any junior teams for both age groups.

Action

“Our development sides will be in action anytime now, before we end the season but Sea Birds and Callies have zero teams as per the CEO’s response to BoGs. CAF is clear that the two teams, shockingly its Sea Birds who should ensure compliance, given the close links with the EFA President, Peter ‘Samora’ Simelane, who watches almost all their matches,” an impeccable source said. But it has to be said that Simelane is not in the club’s books anymore, since assuming office after he handed it over to Sicelo MKhonta, former PLE Executive Committee member. This was reiterated by another team chairman who added that the punitive measures that CAF put in place for teams failing to meet these requirements.

“The CAF punitive measures are clear on this one; the two teams should not be playing here but in a lower league. They must be docked all points amassed this season as they shouldn’t have played in the first place. All teams but the two have the development teams, as others completed the registration in the second window as per the PLE instruction to do so to kick off the development games,” the source claimed, while adding that the league rules may also have an Article about what must happen to these two teams. It is an open secret that CAF frowns upon failure to adhere to the required standards, especially after insisting last season that all club licensing requirements but having women football teams be met by elite teams. The women football teams’ call was halted, as most African teams did not have them and CAF opted to suspend for a few seasons to allow clubs to recover from COVID-19 and establish the teams.

Equirement

This will soon be another requirement along with its own development sides, a situation set to make football very expensive for local teams and many others in Africa. “Among the punitive measures in case a club was in breach of this CAF Club Licensing requirement, is that that team must be relegated to a lower league that does not require such. The affected teams can also be suspended, docked points and relegated to a lower division with a fine also possible,” said the official on condition of anonymity.

The official said they saw on Facebook that Callies was calling for juniors’ trialists, “but where will they register them? We do not anticipate any special window at this point as we wrap up our season,” a highly placed official at Sigwaca House explained, but referred the matter to the CEO as this was his presentation at the workshop. The PLE was also sought for comment on this news, but referred issues regarding this matter to the rules and EFA. It is a known fact that CAF calls for the relegation of clubs that do not comply with the development and financial sustainability requirements. Callies Managing Director Ngudze Mamba could not be immediately reached for comment as his cellphone rang unanswered. Sea Birds Public Relations Officer (PRO) Thami Cebe, said they were having a meeting about the issue soon and that was when he could comment.

Serious

“We have seen that the matter is serious, but we worked so hard to get things in order for club licensing. Right now there’s nothing much to say until after we meet,” he said. The MTN Premier League Rules and Regulations do cater for club licensing as per the CAF requirements. The relevant articles are listed as part of the story. In a nutshell, Sea Birds and Callies stand to be relegated. The latter are already in the drop zone and desperately trying to survive, as there are seven games remaining and the chances are still there, until Saturday’s PLE BoGs Workshop. This could come as good news to relegation-threatened Manzini Wanderers, who are one place above Callies in the bottom part of the table.

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