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THE curtain comes down on the 2016 Premier Soccer League season this afternoon with the championship hanging by a cliff hanger while the relegation equation is also yet to be solved. It is as exciting a finish as any but questions will linger as to the quality of football served to spectators throughout the season.

Resurgent Caps United could be crowned champions at Ascot Stadium to cap a memorable campaign during which they entertained, ground results and rewound the clock to the heady days of yesteryear Makepekepe sides which were formidable and struck fear into their opponents.

The return of club president Farai Jere was the tonic that laid the foundation for the success which has seen the Harare giants on the cusp of lifting the PSL crown for the first time since 2005. It has been a fairytale season punctuated by sporadic disruptions caused by player revolt and unrest over winning bonuses and salaries but overally, Caps United have been a model professional side which other teams can emulate.

Jere should be praised for assembling a team capable of upstaging other giants such as Highlanders and Dynamos despite the challenging economic situation in the country. His technical team deserves praise particularly Lloyd Chitembwe — the head coach. Title contenders FC Platinum are also worthy of a PSL crown having displayed some of the most breathtaking football in the country.

The Zvishavane side are very professional, well-funded and have a shrewd tactician in Norman Mapeza who has proved time and again that he has what it takes to lift the championship. Despite a few bleeps here and there, his team has been a marvel to watch and the stability in their camp deserves a reward. If they are crowned champions today, FC Platinum have what it takes to represent Zimbabwe well in the African Champions League. The traditional giants of Zimbabwean football Highlanders and Dynamos had lacklustre seasons by their standards and should up their game next year to reclaim lost glory.

All in all, it has been smooth sailing for the PSL and kudos should go to the secretariat led by chief executive Kennedy Ndebele for steering the ship well and ensuring that sponsors got their money’s worth. Ndebele, one of the best administrators in the country, should stand tall and proud for running a flawless campaign which has seen Zimbabwean football being beamed to the entire continent on SuperSport. Credit should also go to chairman Peter Dube and the PSL governors for ensuring that the game grew from strength to strength.

The clubs themselves were brilliant as they kept their heads above the water despite serious challenges and we hope sponsors will not desert them next season. On the field of play, it was a competitive league with Highlanders pushing FC Platinum and Caps United until the penultimate round of matches. Attendance at matches was good but the quality of the game needs scrutiny given the paucity of goals. Leading top goal scorer Leonard Tsipa is sitting on a mere 11 goals with a game to go and this is a serious indictment on the quality of strikers in the PSL. That Tsipa won the Golden Boot exactly 12 years ago with 18 goals shows the gulf and extent of the drop in quality.

Stakeholders in the game need to seriously introspect and get to the root of the problem. Is it tactics, formations or just plain dearth of quality strikers available locally? These questions need to be answered before the beginning of the next season. Another area of concern is the current impasse between the PSL and football motherbody Zifa.

The promotional/relegation conundrum needs to be resolved quickly so that it doesn’t affect preparations for next season. It would be a sad day for Zimbabwean football if the deadlock led to the dissolution of the PSL and creation of a new monstrosity with no buy-in from clubs. Like we have alluded to earlier, the PSL is a well-run machine whose credibility is beyond reproach. It has attracted and maintained sponsorship including the lucrative TV deal with SuperSport which is benefiting clubs.

Corporate entities do not like scandals and controversy and the current turmoil in the domestic game does not bode well for the future. We implore the PSL and Zifa to find common ground and resolve their differences in an amicable manner for the good of the game. Football affects the livelihoods of many people in Zimbabwe and administrators should be mindful of that fact when they engage each other.

Grandstanding, boisterousness and oversized egos appear great when playing to the gallery but the damage to the reputation of football is irreparable. We appeal to football authorities to see reason, swallow their pride and find an amicable solution to the problems besetting the game now before it’s too late.