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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
CLUBS have asked the Premier Soccer League to submit claims to Zifa to recover matchday two costs following the abrupt cancellation of league matches last week after the suspended Zifa board withdrew referees at five venues.

The Zifa board was suspended by the Sports and Recreation Commission on Tuesday morning last week and the sanctioned members allegedly connived to withdraw match officials for that afternoon’s matches leaving teams warming up.

Highlanders went into camp on the eve of the cancelled match against Ngezi Platinum Stars, who travelled from Mhondoro to camp in Bulawayo.

Bulawayo Chiefs made the long trip to Mutare for a date with Cranborne Bullets from Harare, who had adopted Sakubva Stadium for the encounter and both teams accumulated travelling and camping costs.

Dynamos also travelled from Harare to the Lowveld for a date with Triangle United, while both Yadah and ZPC Kariba left their bases to Baobab Stadium in Mhondoro.

Harare teams Herentals-Black Rhinos were set to clash at the National Sports Stadium.

The PSL was also forced to cancel games that had been scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday last week.

The PSL has since rescheduled the cancelled matches to this weekend, but clubs have demanded that Zifa reimburses them for the wasteful expenditure they suffered.

Clubs, which spoke to Chronicle Sport on condition of anonymity, said the PSL teams are unanimous that Zifa, who are responsible for referees that were called off, should compensate them for their losses.

“The clubs have forwarded their claims to the PSL, which will in turn take them to Zifa. Almost all teams, save for those that were due to play on Thursday, had paid for covid tests. Some paid for police details, security, stewards, stadium hire, fumigation and sanitisation of the stadium, chief cashier, cashiers, compliance officers, medical doctor and ambulance services, among other costs.

Team sponsors are breathing heavily on the clubs’ leadership demanding reimbursement as their money can’t just go down the drain,” said a source.

PSL chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele confirmed that they were collating the costs clubs incurred and forward hem to Zifa.

“It is true that we’ve requested clubs to furnish us with figures relating to costs incurred for the aborted matchday two fixtures. These will be submitted to Zifa. Some of the figures look reasonable in terms of expected matchday costs. It’s only fair that the clubs get compensation as they endured a lot in the last two years because of Covid-19.

We can’t have unscrupulous individuals who don’t appreciate what clubs have gone through to keep running during the challenging Covid-19 times.

“When the restart of football was permitted, it was only for the PSL for both women and men. But from the US$1.8 million that was for Covid-19 relief grant from Fifa and Caf, the men’s PSL just got US$120 000 which couldn’t cushion clubs. Surely, clubs mustn’t be subjected to further frustration,” said Ndebele.

He also thanked clubs’ sponsors for “understanding” the situation, adding that “corporates don’t want chaos”.

Matchday two rescheduled fixturesFriday, November 26: Cranborne Bullets v Bulawayo Chiefs (National Sports Stadium)Saturday, November 27: FC Platinum v Chicken Inn (Mandava), Yadah v ZPC Kariba (Baobab), Herentals v Black Rhinos (National Sports Stadium), Bulawayo City v Manica Diamonds (Barbourfields), Tenax CS v Whawha (Sakubva)

Sunday, November 28: Highlanders v Ngezi Platinum Stars (Barbourfields), Triangle United v Dynamos (Gibbo), Caps United v Harare City (National Sports Stadium)
— @ZililoR