We have not failed clubs - BPL
Mqondisi Dube | Friday March 15, 2019 13:17
Some clubs have made their frustrations known over constant, last minute changes to fixtures.
The latest incident saw Miscellaneous fail to travel to Gaborone for a fixture against Township Rollers, with the Serowe-based side, arguing the information had been relayed late.
The BPL was adamant that the match must go ahead and now Miscellaneous are likely to face a disciplinary hearing after the matter was referred to the league’s prosecutor on Wednesday.
But despite facing criticism over fixtures, Ntshinogang said the BPL had done its best under trying circumstances.
“No. The league office has not failed clubs but has even gone out of its way to shoulder some of the issues that were supposed to be resolved by club; for instance, to have agreements with venue owners as per club licensing requirement,” Ntshinogang said.
“We have very few clubs like Galaxy, Orapa, Police, Prisons, Sankoyo, Highlanders, Miscellaneous and Gunners, whose venues are always available. As for the other clubs, we always have to run around looking for venues for them.”
Ntshinogang said whenever fixtures are changed, all board members who are club chairpersons are notified in advance.
“For instance, this season we had two major fixture changes to accommodate the FA Cup and the latest one, to accommodate CHAN. We only came to know about these competitions when we were already in the middle of our season. We don’t change fixtures willy-nilly,” he said.
He said venue changes are also necessitated by the unavailability of certain facilities.
“For instance, if you look at our very original fixtures, some matches were scheduled to be played there, but some of the clubs that had indicated that they will use the venue as their home ground ran away from that decision, indicating that the venue is too expensive for them. We are now, as the league office, burdened with the responsibility to look for alternative venues.”
Regarding Miscellaneous facing three matches away from home, Ntshinogang admitted it was not an ideal situation.
“But when the schedule is difficult to work around, we have no choice but live with that bit of inconvenience. I personally acknowledged this when we discussed with the Miscellaneous chairperson.”