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Tawanda Muparati

Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
THE domestic Premiership has plucked a leaf from the Fifa Ballon d’Or template by unveiling a revamped selection process for the Soccer Star of the Year in which the captains of the 16 top-flight clubs will be part of the panel to choose the best footballer this season.It marks the first time, in the history of this prestigious award that is handed to the outstanding football star in the domestic Premiership each year, that the players will be part of a selection process in which they will hold 30.76 percent of the vote.

The football writers, who have dominated the selection panel and, at the beginning were the only constituency that voted for the Soccer Star of the Year, will be retained on the panel but the number of journalists involved has been considerably slashed.

Although only 33 football writers cast their vote in the selection process for the 2013 Soccer Stars of the Year, after a number of journalists who were supposed to be part of the cast chose not to be part of the show, this year a maximum of 30 journalists will vote. The journalists, in last year’s selection process, represented 67.34 percent of the vote, which gave them a huge say, and while their voice has been trimmed ahead of this year’s vote, as they have 57.6 percent of the vote, the football writers still have the biggest constituency on the panel.

All the major newspapers will have reduced representation on the panel with The Herald, who have been allocated three votes, having the biggest number of votes although the newspaper has barely participated in the process, in the recent years, with only one of its representatives, Grace Chingoma, taking part last year.

All the 16 Premiership coaches will carry a vote each, on the revised selection panel, and unlike in the past where coaches could decide whether or not to go and cast their vote, it’s now mandatory for them to cast their ballot.

Only half of the 16 Premiership head coaches chose to cast their votes in the selection process for the 2013 Soccer Star of the Year, which was won by Dynamos midfielder Tawanda Muparati, while none of the coaches from the Big Three — Callisto Pasuwa, Kelvin Kaindu and Taurai Mangwiro — took part.

Last week, Premier Soccer League chief executive Kenny Ndebele wrote to all Sports Editors in this country advising them of the changes, in the voting structure, and also asking them to forward the names of journalists who will be voting on behalf of their organisations.

The same panel of journalists, coaches and team captains will also be selecting the Castle Lager Premiership Player of the Month winners.

“We write to advise that Delta Beverages and Castle Lager Premier Soccer league have re-organised the Panel of Selectors for the Castle Lager PSL Monthly and Annual Awards,” Ndebele wrote.

“The panel of selectors shall be as follows:
Print and Electronic Media — 30 votes
Castle Lager PSL Team Captains — 16 votes
Castle Lager PSL Team Coaches — 16 votes (Total — 52 votes)

“Please, be further advised that due to the increase in the number of media houses, we have spread votes across the print and electronic media.”

The PSL chief executive also announced the breakdown of the allocation of the media votes for the monthly and annual awards and the media will be represented as follows:
B-Metro (1), Chronicle (1), Daily News (2), Gemazo (1), The Herald (3), H-Metro (2), NewsDay (2), Patriot (1), Southern Eye (2), Standard (1), StarFM (2), Sunday Mail (2), Sunday News (2), ZiFM (1), Zimbabwe Mail (2), ZBC (TV/Radio) (2), Manica Post (1).

Two years ago, the authorities incorporated representatives of referees and players, through the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe, but those votes have been thrown away, in the new format, where the captains of the team will have a major say in choosing the winners.

The Soccer Star of the Year selection process has always been tainted by controversy with journalists being accused of choosing players from their favourite teams, or their cities, instead of choosing those who deserve the honour by virtue of having excelled on the field.

Muparati’s selection as the Soccer Star of the Year has always been a huge talking point in this country with a huge constituency of domestic football, led by Harare City chairman Leslie Gwindi, questioning how he outshone players like Silas Songani and Kuda Mahachi last season.

In 1997, matters came to a head following the disqualification of Edelbert Dinha, then a CAPS United stalwart who had been odds-on favourites to win the Soccer Star of the Year award, with the journalists who unhappy with Dinha’s disqualification deciding, en-bloc, not to vote for Tauya Murewa. The Dynamos forward had been Dinha’s main rival for the award and, suddenly, there was a surge of votes in favour of Hwange’s Walter Tshuma who won the award but the sponsors could not ignore the controversy that followed and cancelled their partnership.

Southern Region football writers called for the votes to be made public, the way fifa does in the Ballon d’Or, so that all the journalists will be made accountable by the public for the choices they would have made in the selection of the Soccer Stars of the Year.

The leadership of the Southern Region journalists argue that the secrecy of the ballot enable some football writers to make wild choices, without being held to account for their choices, and the public should be allowed to not only debate but also pass judgment on those choices.

Fifa use a panel of journalists, the national team coaches and the team captains to choose the winner of the Ballon d’Or, the trophy given to the best footballer in the world every year.