Last month, the southern zone league committee decided to award two points and 25 goals to Jwaneng netball team after the Toronto girls failed to pitch up for their match on June 25. According to information reaching Mmegi Sport, Notwane failed to turn up for their match as they had gone for some funerals which neither sanctioned by the committee nor Jwaneng team.
In a letter written to Notwane, the league committee said; “in your letter of the 23rd June you advised having managed to reschedule some of your games and indicated that you were still waiting for response from Jwaneng. We note that you had initiated the request for a change of dates. As such, we believe it is only reasonable that you ought to have followed up with Jwaneng for timeous response.
The onus was therefore on you to ensure that a final arrangement was made prior to the 25th June, and further, you were under an obligation to report to us before the said date.
In light of the aforegoing, we note that as a result of your failure to do the necessary follow ups, the game was not played and no alternative arrangements were put in place. We have therefore resolved as follows; to award Jwaneng two (2) points and twenty five (25) goals.”
Southern zone publicity officer Isaac Letsholathebe said yesterday that they have awarded points to Jwaneng after Notwane failed to honour their game in June. “We’re still waiting to hear from Notwane and if they appeal it, then it will be taken care of by the executive committee,” he said.
Letsholathebe complained that there is a lot of indiscipline in the southern zone hence problems. He asserted that BONA has to give zones more powers to act against teams if the leagues are to run smoothly. “There are certain individuals within teams who are influencial and decide what their teams should do. These people are the ones who’re spoiling the game,” said Letsholathebe.
In an interview with Mmegi Sport yesterday, Notwane captain Kelebogile Mocuminyana confirmed having seen the letter from zone. The Toronto girls’ skipper said that they will not respond to the zone’s decision and will let the Jwaneng team get the points.
“Whenever we’re right, we’re told that in the interest of sport we should not carry on with some issues which are of concern to us. What we’re fighting is that there should not be favouritism in netball. We always fight to show BONA that they’re not standard,” she said.
Notwane argue that it is surprising that they were not granted a chance to attend a funeral while BDF Cats were allowed to do so some two years back.
