Abandoned matches due to crowd trouble, bouncers pouncing on visiting team officials as was the case when the Dynamos mafia beat Hwange coaches to a pulp, poor decisions by the ZIFA Appeals Committee and unorthodox attempts to stop the use of juju are some of the actions likely to dent, and not sell, the Castle Premiership.
Defending league champions, Dynamos, themselves one of the tainted local clubs in terms of violence, came out empty-handed despite having won the Net-One charity shield, following disagreements over the branding of kits between tournament sponsors and the league’s sponsors, Delta Beverages.
Apparently Net-One wanted their logo to be printed on the front of every jersey, but Delta would have none of that. In the end the Harare giants lost out on £10,000 prize money.
BancAbc, who bankrolled the Super8 cup during the past four years, pulled out due to the same reason of visibility. This dented the premiership chiefs’ image and stands in the way of good reviews from the international community that watches Supersport.
When the league began, the Twine Phiri-led executive was forced to flex its muscles, after Harare-based Motor Action failed to fulfil their fixture against Caps United at Gwanzura Stadium.
The Mighty Bulls had wanted the match to be played at Callies Sports Club, their home ground, but the match had to be rescheduled for fear of crowd trouble. The Bulls lost the three points to Makepekepe after a boardroom decision.
Caps were themselves no saints, as their fans went berserk when their team was trailing Chicken Inn with a few minutes to go at Gwanzura, further tarnishing the image of the league, which has for years struggled attract sponsorship.
Although in African football, juju is believed to play a big role in making teams succeed, this season, in Zimbabwe, belief in it has reached extreme levels, with even big clubs like Caps and Dynamos resorting to the use of urine to enhance their chances of scoring.
Post published in: Football