HARARE - The Arbitration Centre is busy trying to unlock the puzzle of the soccer wrangle of who won the southern region first division championship between Zimbabwe Saints and Quelaton.
Both clubs claim to be the legitimate champions and the dispute has been going on since the soccer season ended last November but with no solution in sight. It is against this background that Judge Justice Antony Gubbay and Muchadei Masunda have been tasked to intervene in a crisis that has not only thrown the region into turmoil but also threatening to derail the star of the PSL 2010 season.
The centre of the problem lies at the outcome of the judgment on the result of the match between Quelaton and Mpumalanga which at that time gave Quelaton the title. Before that game, Quelaton were on 44 points while Saints were on 43. Quelaton went to Mpumalanga and lost the match but the then leaders complained that Mpumalanga had illegally used unregistered players some of them belonging to Premiership club Hwange. A Zifa disciplinary committee ruled in favour of Quelaton but Mpumalanda appealed against the decision through the Zifa Appeals Committee and the decision was reversed and in n the process, Quelaton had the three points deducted giving Zimbabwe Saints the title by two points.
This meant that Saints were to play Shabanie Mine in the play offs for that vital place in the Premiership come the start of the season in 2010. But two days before the game, Quelaton went to the High Court and Justice Nicholas Ndou ordered that the play-off match be called off. Although the first leg was played and Shabanie Mine won 3-1, the result is no longer of any consequence as the court had already called it off. With the issue once again at stalemate, Zifa referred the case to for arbitration.
Post published in: Football