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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
PREMIER Soccer League chief executive Kenny Ndebele has expressed deep concern with the lack of tight security at their matches and says there is need for all stakeholders in the game to take security issues seriously after a pitch invasion by jubilant Dynamos fans marred the presentation ceremony of the Castle Lager championship trophy at the National Sports Stadium on Sunday.

Dynamos overcame How Mine 2-0 and were hugely aided by CAPS United’s impressive 3-2 victory over DeMbare’s nearest rivals, ZPC Kariba, to retain the title they have dominated for the last four years. Although it was small crowd by Dynamos standards, the security details at the stadium still struggled to contain the overzealous fans and the DeMbare players had to temporarily retreat to their dressing room while police restored order and cleared the pitch for the landing of the Air Force of Zimbabwe helicopter that brought the trophy.

Ndebele said although they would apply the rules and regulations that govern such incidents, he was of the opinion that an end to such madness could only be achieved with the assistance of all the stakeholders in the game.

The PSL chief executive said the worry stemmed from the fact that such incidents had the potential of leading up to stampedes where lives could be easily lost.

“It’s a serious worry, its one area where I think we are found wanting from a football organising side of things and we need to sit down with our security forces that we hire to provide security at these events.

“It’s very dangerous, just a few days ago 11 people died inside a stadium, yes it might have been a religious grouping but it’s all the same. Crowd controlling really needs to be taken seriously.

“Well fans need to be educated. For now I think as a league we will just apply the rules and regulations but overall, as a football family we are to blame in the sense that we need to educate fans.

“We need to liase more with our security providers to ensure that these safety and security concerns are addressed well before the event,” said Ndebele.

Ndebele said they have already had discussions as they try to come up with solutions to avoid such scenarios as was witnessed at the National Sports Stadium.

“Personally I have ideas. We have seen this, we are not inventing anything it’s something that we see every week in other leagues, how security is organised. We just have to seriously look at the budget for such events. We should hire more security personnel and even private security and train them at the same time to understand the dangers of pitch invasion, the inconveniencing of everybody.

“It’s really a risk, you don’t want football to be a no go area where there are lots of stampedes, some pushing and shoving,” said Ndebele.

But away from the poor security which also made life difficult for journalists seeking to have their post-match interviews, Ndebele said they are happy with way the league progressed this season but noted that there are some areas that need to be reviewed to take the league to the next level in terms of professionalism.

“From an administrative point of view, we are happy with the support we got from Delta Beverages our main sponsors.

The support came in the form of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer league together with Chibuku trophy whose winners are now going to represent Zimbabwe in the Confederation Cup, so it’s something exciting.

“But there are areas where we feel we should really look at. We have already touched on security, violence at stadia, where in one of the matches a fan died and it’s a worry. There are areas where we really feel there is need for us as a league to sit down and review.

“And our other concern obviously is the relegation of four teams from the Premiership. Fifa was clear when they came here for constitution making process that two teams should be relegated. It’s sad of course that the policy formulation board here, the assembly thought they could still do with four teams,” said Ndebele.

The PSL chief executive believes there is need to revisit the issue as it compromises the quality of play in the league and highlighted that some of the clubs do not have proper and functioning structures to qualify to be a football club.

“I will be frank, for me personally, I don’t want to put this on the league, we have to revisit the relegation of four teams.

“I am not sure about the quality of teams that will be promoted next year but there is something wrong.

“Of course the other one is perhaps the fact that we have not implemented club licensing system, so if we implement the club licensing system we will be able to say this team cannot be promoted because they don’t meet the minimum requirements. We have teams getting promoted into the league as opposed to clubs, the difference being that a team is just an owner and 25 players getting together in one of the premises, just hire a mini-bus and proceed and play a football match. But a club must have structures both administratively and in terms of infrastructure,” said Ndebele.

Ndebele said clubs have the potential to meet the standards but there is no enforcement which has seen clubs conducting themselves in an unprofessional manner. “We are not applying it just in terms of enforcement because if you look at clubs in the Premiership they have the potential of coming up with these facilities. It’s the only sort of industry where you don’t have enforcements.

“That’s what is happening in football, we have no structures, we have teams coming and going. And when you ask them they probably spend about half a million every year in terms of their expenditure so it means they have the capacity,” said Ndebele.

The four teams relegated this season are Black Rhinos, Shabanie Mine, Bantu Rovers and Chiredzi while Tsholotsho were promoted from Southern Region.

Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Services teams Hwahwa and Flame Lilly were promoted in the Central and Northern Regions respectively. The Eastern Region winners will be decided this weekend as the race is still open for Buffalo Junior and Mutare City who are separated by just two points.