By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA and  MOSES CHIMFWEMBE –
AFTER weeks of controversy and mixed views from various stakeholders surrounding the constitutionality of the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) ‘reconvened’ annual general meeting (AGM), the indaba takes off at Government Complex this morning with the football family divided on the single agenda item.
The council meeting is expected, if the motion is unanimously adopted, to deliberate on the restructuring of the Premier League and could see the number of MTN-FAZ Super Division teams increase from the current 16 to 18 and the zoning of Division One leagues into four zones.
While a number of stakeholders have criticised the tabling of the Premier League restructuring item at today’s meeting citing constitutional breaches on the part of FAZ, councillors will have the final say on the matter.
During the March meeting, the Northern Province Amateur Football Association (NOPAFA)’s proposal for the restructuring of the Division One North and South leagues to avoid playoffs, which gave birth to the item under scrutiny today, was overwhelmingly defeated via a vote.
Only 85 councillors supported NOPAFA’s motion while 157 were against it, prompting FAZ to adjourn the meeting saying the matter was of great importance and needed enough time to digest and to allow for consultations with members.
However, Football House maintains that today’s subject on the agenda is a carry-over from last meeting but the bone of contention is that league restructuring is purely a new item as opposed to what NOPAFA proposed, hence some stakeholders have rendered it illegal.
According to the FAZ constitution, only matters that are not concluded at the AGM qualify for discussion at the reconvened meeting.
Aspiring presidential candidates Andrew Kamanga and Henschel Chitembeya, and football administrator Simataa Simataa have expressed concerns on the legality of the agenda item and the meeting itself.
But with the Sports Council of Zambia (SCZ) surprisingly fully backing FAZ, the fate of the matter remains in the hands of councillors.
“The Sports Council of Zambia has set a bad precedence on the football fraternity. They should not tolerate illegality in administration and I think posterity will judge them (SCZ) harshly,” said former FAZ executive member Keagan Chipango. “Restructuring of the league should not have been on the agenda because it was defeated.”
Besides the legal controversy, the proposal is likely to shake up the structure of the football league which starts with a less controversial matter of expanding the Premier Division from the current 16 teams to 18.
But the matter takes up a complicated twist on how many teams get demoted from the Super League and how many Division One sides get promoted to meet the new numbers of an expanded top flight league.
At this point, FAZ has three scenarios on how to go about with club licensing manager Erick Mwanza saying this could end up seeing no Super Division side demoted with just two Division One sides get promoted.
The first one is to agree whether just two Super Division sides get demoted and then the usual four get promoted to make 18 sides or the usual four top flight sides getting demoted and six Division One sides getting promoted (three from each of the two zones).
This is one matter that will split the Super Division sides and Division One but it’s the lower division that has the numbers.
“The councillors will decide on the modalities and a committee will go round the country to actualise this,” said Mwanza, who has been driving the restructuring process.
This ultimately means that there will be no demotions in Division One but will instead be joined by 24 new clubs from provincial leagues, a move that could see the watering down of the competition as FAZ just seems to be making up numbers.
The councillors are known to be bold at times as at the last AGM they threw out two proposals with the first involving Blackwell Siwale’s proposal that some positions in FAZ be a preserve of executive members only and the NOPAFA motion.
As the councillors debate the game’s future, the rest of the country will watch with bated breath.