Poor remuneration on referees cripples the Zimbabwe Women's soccer league

The Zimbabwe women's national football league is a sleeping giant which needs to be reawakened. The league supplies players to our beloved national team players The Mighty Warriors.

The league is overseen by the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA). As of June 2017, they are ranked 86th in the world which is a very good position to be.

This Woman's Super League compromises of teams such as Black Rhinos , Swallows,  Herentals , Mufakose Queens, Inlines Stars, Ollyns, Oaklands, Street Set, Cyclone,  ZRP Morris,  ZRP Harare just to mention a few.

It is so disheartening to learn that during the middle of the season some referees were not paid their match fees including the match commissioners. This caused a very big impact where some matches were abondoned as the sponsors could not afford to meet their demands.

The referees match fees which were pegged at $75.00 per match were not met and according to the sources about five referees are owed about $250 each.

Zifa said there were going to foot the bills for match officials but nothing of that sort materialised.

It was not only the match officials who are owed some clubs have suffered the same fate thus undermining the girl child who is supposed to be taken care of.

When the season kicked off, teams were promised transport fees but only a few uniformed teams like ZRP Morris , Black Rhinos, ZRP Harare, Herentals and Swallows managed to fulfil their fixtures because of their access to resources.

It painted a gloomy picture to some of the clubs who had no such kind of sponsorship to fulfil their matches. Teams from Bulawayo never fulfilled any matches in Harare because of transport logistical challenges.

One of the reliable sources implicated the fixtures Secretary who happens to reside in Bulawayo of abusing the funds intended to pay tge match officials.  It is alleged that she could board a plane from Bulawayo to come and watch games in Harare.

Mama Red Rose a Harare based music promoter who happens to be the sponsor proved ignorant about the story and said that she knew nothing about the concerned referees who were not paid their match fees , she claimed.

The concerned referees are now appealing to the responsible high office to urgently look into this matter and have heart to heart meetings with the football gurus,  as it looks like nobody is prepared to incline their ears and hear their plight so as to break this impasse.

Its high time the Zifa Chief Whip Dr Philip Chiyangwa wield an axe on maladminstration within the mother governing body so that sanity prevails. Public funds must be accounted for and must be directed to their intended use.

Corruption is becoming so rampant in the football circles where soccer adminstrators in the lower leagues and Women's football are involved in shaddy deals for personal aggrandizement.

There is need to rebrand the Women's football in order to achieve the intended goals as teams prepare for the 2018 new football season. The talent is there and it only needs narturing. Football has become a source of employment both for male and female players and the football association must make sure that no leagues are disadvantaged by poor administration.

Referees also play a cognisal role in football, as they are the custodians of this beautiful sport and always ensure that there is a fair play in the game through enforcing the 17 laws of the game. Let the games begin as we have the support of the new Caf President Ahmad of Madagascar who is keen to promote football in the region. We can't get assistance if our referees cry and are not given their dues. We can't get assistance if the girl child fail to play  her games because there are no referees to officiate them. Let us oil the game and get it running.

Feedback:
Facebook - Leonard Koni
Twitter- @leokoni
Whatsapp- +27747402042
Email- konileonard606@gmail.com