Moorosi Tsiane
LAST season the Econet Premier League was marred by numerous controversies involving teams and the administration from both the football mother body (LeFA) and Premier League Management Committee (PLMC).
One would have thought that this season would be much better compared to the last one but it looks like we might be travelling through the same route.
I think it is time that some of our premiership teams start to take their brands seriously.
It is frustrating that most times when people have to own up to their own flaws they are always looking to shift the blame to the next person.
Lesotho’s transfer window period was opened from 1 June 2018 and closed on the last day of August and since then all the teams were allowed to submit names of the players they wanted to register.
This means that the teams had three full months for the process. However, as has become usual, administrators waited until the last day of registration to submit their players. Unfortunately, not all of them succeeded and in the process, some teams failed to register their key players.
Last season, following the Bantu scandal about foreign players, teams cried foul saying the Mafeteng outfit cheated the system and to resolve the issue, both LeFA and the chairperson’s forum resolved that they would tighten the registration process to avoid such scandals.
It was resolved that unlike in the past years where teams would submit the names to the LeFA offices, this season teams had to register using the new online method called FIFA connect.
The new procedure has now had some of the teams crying foul since they were negatively affected after failing to register some of their players.
Teams such as Matlama and LMPS just to name the few, have been playing without some of their regulars from last season as they failed to register them and have to wait for January next year when the transfer window period opens.
To minimise cheating of the registration process for foreign players, this season each player was requested to register using the International Transfer Certificate (ITC) from the previous associations where they were playing before coming to Lesotho.
This saw many foreign players being left out as some did not have the requisite documents while some came into the country illegally.
Our teams should stop blaming LeFA because they asked for this and they simply should have done what is necessary and stop being crybabies.
I have also learnt that due to late request for ITCs by some of the players, the documents were released after the close of the transfer window and they now have to wait for January.
It is not LeFA’s fault but our teams are to blame. Teams should stop looking for scapegoats and they have to man-up and shoulder their blame; at least they owe the supporters that much.
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