OVER E150K PLE DEDUCTIONS

MBABANE – Moneni Pirates face a hefty bill due to, among other things, repeated tardiness to games dating back to 2019.

During an end-of-season meeting held on Saturday at Manzini Library, Pirates Management Committee confessed to an outstanding bill of E157 000. They said this penalty was accumulated over two seasons, which are the 2019/2020 and 2020/ 2021 MTN Premier League seasons. This revelation emerged when the team Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mhlonishwa Motsa was presenting the financials to their supporters. According to the 2020/2023 MTN Premier League Rules and Regulations, late coming to games carries a sanction of E20 000.

determined

“Each club shall be at the card checking point ready for checking seventy minutes before the scheduled start of the match or as may be determined by the official countdown protocol of the match. The PLE official will inform the clubs of any delay and further inform them of the new card checking time. Failure of a football club to report, as in 4.10 above, shall be summarily fined an amount of E20 000 by the PLE,” reads article 4.10 and 11, respectively. The management committee confessed that this fine was a result of the misbehaviour by the team over those two seasons and thanked their fans for not landing the team into trouble this season. They said the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) had already effected deductions towards the payment of this fine. Pirates reportedly received E40 000 out of the E100 000 participation price of the recently-concluded season. Not only did they suffer the setback with the participation fee but also with the runners-up cash prize of the 2022 MoMo Cup. The silver medalists said E70 000 was slashed towards settling the bill.  Runners-up were entitled to E350 000.  

suffered

Meanwhile, Mbabane Highlanders are one of the teams known to have suffered an almost similar incident. The capital city giants have had their E100 000 MoMo Cup participation prize withheld for allegedly damaging Somhlolo National Stadium’s turf with a sprinter last year in October. Pirates are expected to have accumulated minimum fines from last season. The only incident that the management committee lamented on was the invasion of the pitch by its fans during their game against reigning league champions Green Mamba. They, however, acted swiftly and suspended two fans from watching their games for the rest of last season.

Meanwhile, according to unofficial statistics, PLE might rake in over E250 000 from fines from the 2022/2023 season. Fines, however, have a negative effect on the coffers of teams, draining  them and resulting in football sides failing to fulfill contractual financial obligations of their players and staff. Moreover, the black and white  of Moneni spent about E820 000  in the past season and tabled a E1.4 million budget for the 2023/2024 season.

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