MBABANE: The Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) is meeting this afternoon to decide how they will implement a High Court order to fixture Manzini Wanderers; possibly this weekend.
PLE acting CEO Petros Vilakati said the High Court decision will be presented to the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) for their determination. “Only then that we will have direction.”
Vilakati said among the priorities is to formally inform all key stakeholders, especially those affected by the ruling.
Top of the list of concerns, is Manzini Wanderers who are anxiously waiting for the formal communication which will advise them when they are playing.
“What will make us happy is to be told when we start playing. We are soccer team that was created to play soccer. And playing is what we want to do,” Wanderers’ Wellington Motsa reacted to the PLE meeting.
The Manzini side that has finally won after a protracted battle that started following their initial protest against Denver Sundowns’ alleged defaulter, Jimo Moses in May are both relieved that the battle is over but frustrated that it took so long.
“No one ever imagined it would go so far and take this long. The delay has hurt us badly,” Motsa said of the scheduled meeting.
Internally, though he said they have kept their players motivated and psychologically prepared to resume playing, they hope the League will structure a fixture that will not pile pressure on them such that their players suffer fatigue.
The next few weeks is likely to see a very hectic league that will pile pressure on everyone: “We have 28 teams in the league. The absence of any one of them should not mean all the others must then stop. We run soccer on a tight calendar that is closely aligned with other calendars. As we play we need to keep an eye on some of our teams that will have to play international tournaments. We should be ready for when those tournaments start as they will not wait for us”.
Vilakati is confident that their almost certain awkward 15 team configuration will be completed on time, even though Wanderers who are 5 games behind will have to play catchup. “It’s also not the first time that FA has had to include a team late. Nsingizini joined the last league late, but we were still able to complete the season on time.” he said.
Jm/today/22.10.2024
