Exposed! Super League of Malawi  double standards

As three relegated teams from the Super League go into play-offs for a place in the elite league, it has transpired that Super League of Malawi (Sulom) wrote Football Association of Malawi (Fam) seeking the association’s approval to let Dedza Young Soccer go back into the league, owing to their better standing on the league’s log table compared to Airborne Rangers and FISD Wizards.

According to a letter dated February 25, 2016 signed by Sulom general secretary Williams Banda addressed to Fam general secretary, which has been leaked to Nyasa Times, Sulom proposed to the local mother football governing body that Dedza be admitted back in to the league because they had better points than Wizards and Airborne in the 2015 league season.

It has not been established what response the league got from the football association, which initially quashed the idea of play-offs on the basis that the team to be identified from the play-offs would not be able to meet the club licencing deadline.

But in a typical case of double standards, Sulom has gone ahead with the play-offs, which start this afternoon with a game involving military outfit Airborne Rangers and Wizards.

Saturday, Dedza is expected to line up against Wizards before taking on Rangers in the final fixture on Sunday.

The team that accumulates the highest number of pints in the play-offs will be re-admitted into the Super League to increase the number of teams from an odd number 15 to an even number 16.

Should Airborne Rangers top the play-offs, there will be a total of six military teams in the Super League, further drifting away from the Lilongwe declaration which recommended that the military and other institutions like Malawi Police Service be represented by only one team in the league.

Sources say the Sulom executive has been facing pressure from its army based executive members to give Rangers a chance to remain the top league.

To add weight on the claims, Airborne is the only one of the three teams that will have a chance to rest before fulfilling the next fixture.

Wizards will play back-to-back today and tomorrow with Dedza also playing back-to-back Saturday and Sunday. Rangers will have a rest on Saturday after taking on Wizards  this Friday before playing Dedza on Sunday.