Tenax Approach ZIFA, SRC Over D1 Boardroom Decision To Promote Bikita Minerals To PSL
ZIFA Eastern Region Division One side Tenax Football Club are not happy with the boardroom decision to promote Bikita Minerals Football Club in their place.
Tenax had seemingly won the championship on the final day of the 2023 season but the Eastern Region Soccer League later promoted Bikita Minerals into the Castle Lager Premiership via a boardroom decision.
Tenax had finished a point above Bikita Minerals after winning their game 6-1 at home while the lithium miners had been held to a 1-1 draw at Grayham.
Bikita Minerals were awarded maximum points from their final match of the season on the basis that Grayham had used an ineligible player.
The awarding of the points placed Bikita Minerals on top of the log standings, and Tenax in second position.
Tenax have since reached out to the ZIFA Normalisation Committee as well as the Sport and Recreation Commission (SRC) for possible intervention.
Chronicle quoted Tenax chairman Stefani Masina as saying:
We are not happy with the Eastern Region Soccer League’s decision to award maximum points to Bikita Minerals and their subsequent promotion of the club into the Premiership.
We believe that this was a pre-planned thing meant to disadvantage us. We have reached out to the SRC as well as the (ZIFA) Normalisation Committee for assistance on the matter.
To us, it is clear that the parties involved connived to snatch Premiership promotion from us.
There several irregularities that we raised in our letter of complaint. We were surprised to learn from the media when the ESRL leader Davison Muchena urged clubs to acquaint themselves with the laws of the game when the same league is presiding over a breach of the same laws. We just want football to be the winner.
In their letter of complaint, Tenax queried why the match between Bikita Minerals and Grayham was allowed to proceed after one of the clubs had complained about the use of an illegible player.
To support their argument, Tenax cited an incident sometime in July when they complained about the intended use of two ineligible players by Renco Mine FC.
Following their complaint, consultations were instantly made over the phone with ERSL officials, who quickly checked with the ZIFA player database and the two players were barred from participating.
However, this was not the case with the Bikita Minerals versus Grayham FC match yet there were ZIFA ERSL officials at the match.
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