WORST POINTS TALLY IN THREE SEASONS

MBABANE – Teams competing for honours have registered the lowest number of points, as compared to the past three seasons.

Last season’s champions and runners-up Green Mamba and Young Buffaloes’ overall points tally will not be matched by the current top three. The competing teams this season will further not hit the 58 points clocked by Green Mamba in the 2018/19, when they won the league on goal difference ahead of Royal Leopard. With three games, current leaders Mbabane Swallows who are on 46 points, will not go beyond the 55-point mark. Green Mamba and Buffaloes will finish on 54 and 51 points, in that order, if they  win all their remaining games.
This makes it the worst points record as compared with the 2018/19 and 2022/23 seasons. In the other seasons in between, there were 16 teams. The 2019/2020 campaign, on the other hand, was cut short due to disruptions caused by the advent of COVID-19.  

When sought for his expert opinion, seasoned gaffer Musa Mamba, who is the Eswatini Football Coaches Association (EFCA) Secretary, felt the decrease in the points tally was a sign of an improving standard of the game. “Gone are the days of the complete dominance of the security forces teams. Teams that are not coming to the party find it hard to survive in this league. It is a pity that other big teams like Manzini Wanderers, Moneni Pirates and Denver Sundowns are not putting in the required effort to make the league even more interesting,” highlighted Mamba. Velekhaya Mthethwa, who has worked with the national junior squads and Manzini Wanderers, felt it was either the top teams had dropped their standard or the small sides were coming to the party.

improved

“It is difficult to conclude if the standard of the league has improved or not until we play continentally,” he said. When it comes to relegation, the highest number of points for a team relegated during the period under review was 22. In 2018/19, defunct Vovovo finished on 22 points and got relegated alongside Mbabane Citizens who were on 17. In the past season, both relegated teams were on 15 points. These were Tambankulu Callies and Seven Dreams. Currently, in the drop zone are Moneni Pirates and Denver Sundowns with 18 and 15 points, in that order.

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