Sports / Local
'I've no beef with Phiri,' says Chiyangwa
10 Jan 2016 at 06:02hrs | Views
ZIFA president Philip Chiyangwa has dismissed rumours doing the rounds in football circles that he has a score to settle with Premier Soccer League chairman Twine Phiri after the latter canvassed for his opponent Trevor David Carelse Juul before the association's elections last month. The vendetta, according to the grapevine, has led to the continued insistence by the football mother body for the PSL to hold elections to "replace'' Phiri.
However, Chiyangwa said their decision to continue calling for elections at PSL, despite receiving a letter from its affiliate confirming that Phiri was still their chairman and their representative on the Zifa board, was merely "a need to comply with football regulations''.
The flamboyant businessman said he was not aware that Phiri had canvassed for Juul leading to the Zifa presidential elections; hence it was misguided to insinuate that he had a grudge against the Caps United director.
The Zifa executive committee met on Friday and among the resolutions of the outing was that affiliates that included the PSL, Beach Soccer, Zimbabwe Women Football, Masvingo Province and the Central and Eastern Region should hold elections to fill vacant positions.
In a statement released after the meeting, Zifa declared the PSL chairmanship post vacant and ordered that elections be held on 13 February.
"Zifa is the regulatory body of football in this country and its decision should not normally be challenged. We have handed down a decision that ought to be followed and we can't continue explaining ourselves to people. Affiliates should simply follow our directives and they all know the consequences of failing to do so," said Chiyangwa.
He said the letter that PSL wrote to them confirming Phiri as their chairman was inconsequential because the process to verify the Caps United share structure was not properly followed.
Chiyangwa said when the PSL meets there are procedures that have to be followed that include giving due notice which was not done when the governors met to confirm Phiri as their chairman.
"Some teams are saying they are not even aware of the meeting, some teams had already been relegated when the meeting was held but they participated which we believe brings questions around the resolutions made then. We are made to understand it was a hastily arranged gathering where formalities were not adhered to,'' he said.
"I cannot talk about having a vendetta against Phiri because I was not even aware of the allegations that he was campaigning for Juul. There is no bad blood between him (Phiri) and me."
The PSL last month wrote to Zifa reiterating that Phiri was still its chairman and representative in the Zifa executive committee following the initial order to them (PSL) to elect a new representative.
PSL CEO Kenny Ndebele could not be reached for comment, but sources said Phiri would have no leg to stand on if Caps United had written to the league and Zifa indicating he was no longer their representative in the board of governors.
However, Chiyangwa said their decision to continue calling for elections at PSL, despite receiving a letter from its affiliate confirming that Phiri was still their chairman and their representative on the Zifa board, was merely "a need to comply with football regulations''.
The flamboyant businessman said he was not aware that Phiri had canvassed for Juul leading to the Zifa presidential elections; hence it was misguided to insinuate that he had a grudge against the Caps United director.
The Zifa executive committee met on Friday and among the resolutions of the outing was that affiliates that included the PSL, Beach Soccer, Zimbabwe Women Football, Masvingo Province and the Central and Eastern Region should hold elections to fill vacant positions.
In a statement released after the meeting, Zifa declared the PSL chairmanship post vacant and ordered that elections be held on 13 February.
"Zifa is the regulatory body of football in this country and its decision should not normally be challenged. We have handed down a decision that ought to be followed and we can't continue explaining ourselves to people. Affiliates should simply follow our directives and they all know the consequences of failing to do so," said Chiyangwa.
He said the letter that PSL wrote to them confirming Phiri as their chairman was inconsequential because the process to verify the Caps United share structure was not properly followed.
Chiyangwa said when the PSL meets there are procedures that have to be followed that include giving due notice which was not done when the governors met to confirm Phiri as their chairman.
"Some teams are saying they are not even aware of the meeting, some teams had already been relegated when the meeting was held but they participated which we believe brings questions around the resolutions made then. We are made to understand it was a hastily arranged gathering where formalities were not adhered to,'' he said.
"I cannot talk about having a vendetta against Phiri because I was not even aware of the allegations that he was campaigning for Juul. There is no bad blood between him (Phiri) and me."
The PSL last month wrote to Zifa reiterating that Phiri was still its chairman and representative in the Zifa executive committee following the initial order to them (PSL) to elect a new representative.
PSL CEO Kenny Ndebele could not be reached for comment, but sources said Phiri would have no leg to stand on if Caps United had written to the league and Zifa indicating he was no longer their representative in the board of governors.
Source - sundaynews
