What an offside! Stanford Mtizwa
Stanford Mtizwa

Stanford Mtizwa

Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
THE domestic Premiership have been caught in an embarrassing offside position after it emerged yesterday the country’s top-flight league’s rules and regulations do not provide a framework for the resolution of the freak incident at Ascot on Sunday which led to the abandonment of a high-profile league match.

The goalposts collapsed at Ascot shortly before the hour mark, with a resurgent Dynamos leading hosts Chapungu 4-0, and after repeated failure to have the posts restored, and with Ascot having a poor flood lighting system, the referee was forced to abandon the match.

The PSL revealed yesterday they had received reports from the match commissioner and referee and their specialist committee was now looking into the case to provide a determination on the fate of a game whose controversial ending has provided juicy material for news agencies and websites around the globe.

The International Football Association Board, the specialist body that determines the Laws of the Game in world football, yesterday passed the ball to the PSL as the body empowered with determining the case.

‘’In terms of this latest request for information, all the questions you ask are the responsibility of the competition organisers,’’ David Elleray, the IFAB technical director, told The Herald.

The former leading English Premiership referee also advised this newspaper to ‘’see the Laws of the Game, Law 7 — last paragraph,’’ in terms of finding the regulations that could help determine the case.

That last paragraph of Law 7 says “an abandoned match is replayed unless the competition rules or organisers determine otherwise’’.

However, that appears easier said than done.

And, investigations by The Herald have established that the domestic Premiership don’t have rules and regulations to deal with a freak incident, like the one at Ascot, and they might even have grossly erred in the way they also handled the case involving FC Platinum and Mutare City Rovers last year which, ultimately, ended up having a bearing in the outcome of the championship race.

The PSL Disciplinary Committee deducted three points from Mutare City Rovers for using an ineligible player in a league match against FC Platinum at Mandava which ended 1-1 with the Zvishavane miners retaining the point they earned in that game.

But, with FC Platinum eventually ending their championship race just two points shy of champions CAPS United, and a better goal difference to the Green Machine, the Zvishavane miners could have a right to feel having been robbed in that campaign had their case against Mutare City not have been dealt with in a manner that flouts the provisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Code as was the case then.

Rules and regulations governing any football contest should not be seen to be in conflict to those provided by FIFA, and this has standardised the game’s administration with each game having to be played over 90 minutes, split into two halves, rather than countries coming up with their funny arrangements where a match can end after 10 min- utes.

Article 6 of the FIFA Statutes deals with the “Laws of the Game’’, and is clear that “each Member of FIFA shall play Association Football in compliance with the Laws of the Game issued by The IFAB. Only The IFAB may lay down and alter the Laws of the Game.’’

FIFA empower the host club in having authority in the arrangement of a game played in their backyard with the world football governing body, aware that a number of clubs don’t own stadiums, emphasising on the need for those who have ownership, like the municipalities, to be conversant of their responsibility in the staging of football matches.

And, in the freak incident at Ascot, it’s very clear that the Gweru City Council, who own Ascot and get a percentage from gate receipts every time Chapungu play at home, were at fault because, for the goalposts to collapse, it means they were not of an acceptable standard. But that doesn’t exonerate Chapungu, too, as the hosts of the match from having failed in ticking all the boxes, at their home ground, to ensure that the game would be held within the acceptable conditions as demanded by the authorities like FIFA.

However, given what happened, how then do the PSL proceed with a determination on the issue when their rules and regulations do not provide for the basis of the determination of such a case?

• The easy way would be to punish the hosts Chapungu, for falling short in providing conditions necessary for such a game to be played but, there are complications there because, when it comes to stadiums that host Premiership matches, a committee — which involves the PSL — has to provide that certification for a ground to pass the test.

• That way the PSL would be the complainant in a case in which they are also at fault, given they also were participants in the decision for Ascot to be deemed suitable to host Premiership football matches even when its goalposts were in danger of collapsing and leading to the abandonment of matches.

• Chapungu, as the home team, could be easily punished for probable negligence in this but still how do the PSL proceed with the sanctions when their rules and regulations, specifically, do not deal with an issue like the abandonment of a match because of goalposts that collapsed?

• They could award the game to Dynamos, on a 4-0 scoreline, because the result at the time of the abandonment was greater than the usual 3-0 scoreline given when a match is forfeited but, with half an hour left to be played, wouldn’t such a decision spark an outcry — from the DeMbare people who believe they could even have scored more or from the Glamour Boys opponents who could argue their rivals have been given an unfair helping hand?

• They could order a replay, from the minute when the match was abandoned, with Dynamos leading 4-0, but — in the event the injured Chapungu goalkeeper, or other players who featured in the original game, for one reason or another are not available to play in the replay, wouldn’t that be a mockery of the championship and even attract the interest or sanctions from FIFA?

• They could order a replay, from the very first minute with the scores tied at 0-0 but won’t that spark an even bigger outcry from the DeMbare constituency given that this was a match they were cruising to what looked like a comfortable win and such a decision might be punishing them when they didn’t have any authority, as the away team, in ensuring everything was in order for this game to be played without such hitches?

• And, in any case, what would the PSL be basing their order on if their rules and regulations do not cover issues that have to deal with a match being abandoned because a goalpost collapsed during a game?

It also brings to question how the PSL ended up deducting points from Mutare City Rovers last season, and then leaving the aggrieved party FC Platinum who suffered from their opponents’ use of an ineligible player without the recourse of fighting for those three points, in a proper game, which could have changed the outcome of the championship race.

In the end, the Zvishavane miners suffered from their opponents gaining an advantage by using a good player who was ineligible for that match but, when it was found out, they didn’t get any recourse to be given a chance to either fight for all three points, in a proper replay, or just get all the three points that were at stake.

Writer Grahame Anderson published an article on June 10, 2015, which deals thoroughly with such issue, exploring all the provisions of the game, and it appears the PSL might have erred in the way they dealt with the FC Platinum/Mutare Rovers case and, in the process, ended up having a hand in determining the outcome of the championship race last year.

Others have used precedents like the 2005 case in which Real Madrid and Real Sociedad ended up playing the remaining six minutes of their encounter which had been postponed a month earlier due to a bomb scare at the Bernabeu.

But others have also pointed to the FA Cup match between Tottenham and Bolton, called off in the first half with the scores tied at 1-1 because Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the pitch, which was replayed from the first minute, with both sides starting at 0-0, which Spurs won 3-1. Whatever the case, what this shows is the complexity of the case which the PSL have on their hands, right now and, sadly, the domestic top-flight league might find itself being way offside in dealing with an issue it never believed would ever happen and didn’t prepare the weapons to resolve it.

 

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