Mikia Kalati
LOCAL football was plunged into disrepute on Sunday after the cancellation of two Econet Premier League matches as a result of the bungling by the Premier League Management Committee (PLMC) and the Lesotho Football Association Referees Committee (LeFA RC) which led to the non-availability of referees.
Now this is sheer incompetence on the part of the two bodies which are supposed to closely collaborate to ensure matches are successfully staged.
But the four teams incurred expenses in preparing for and travelling to the match venues only find that there were no referees to handle the games.
In addition, there were thousands of football fans who also made their way to the match venues as did journalists only to learn of this debacle which can only serve to further dent the image of the game.
This is bad enough on its own but the bungling on the part of LeFA RC and the PLMC is all the more unacceptable coming as it does at a time when the league body is crying out for more sponsors to take the local game to a higher level.
This is the first season in which Econet Lesotho are back bankrolling the league. They have even added a whole host of awards to increase the level of competition and the least that they should receive as sponsors is mileage.
An orderly state of affairs would help to keep the sponsors happy and possibly attract more corporate entities to the beautiful game.
But this will not happen when a team can be made to travel all the way to Mohale’s Hoek for an abortive fixture.
I made the trip to Ratjomose Barracks Ground in Maseru where I joined up with thousands of football fans who had hoped to see two of the country’s most successful teams in action.
Matlama and LDF have won 17 league titles between them, with the former having won nine to their rivals’ eight.
Even if they have lost their dominance to Bantu and Lioli, a clash between the two remains a major drawcard and for that reason, LeFA RC and the PLMC could not have chosen a worse time to display their incompetence.
The other aborted fixture was between Majantja and Kick4Life.
We surely cannot expect our football to grow when administrators behave like this and commit errors that damage the image of the game.
The two bodies must own up to their mistakes and apologise to the football fraternity.
They should also cover the expenses the four teams incurred for the abortive matches and ensure that such a mess will not be repeated.
Our football might still be at amateur level but that does not mean we should be making such horrible mistakes especially as our goal is to turn professional in the near future.
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