MTL Queens risk being barred from contesting in this year’s OG Issa League if they do not pay registration fees by today [Thursday], the Southern Region Netball League (SRNL) has warned.
SRNL chairperson Khungekire Matiya said on Tuesday that the Queens, who are expected to face title-holders Escom Sisters in the 2012 league opener at the Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC) on Saturday, are the only ones out of the 11 teams in the competition that are yet to pay the fees.
Before kick-off, each participating team is supposed to pay K24 000 (about $96) — K10 000 (about $40) club fee and K700 (about $2.8) for each of its 20 players.
But the Queens vice-team manager Annie Sanga-Kapatuka on Wednesday wondered why the SRNL is pushing hard on the fee when all along, the teams have been paying the cash even in the middle of the league season.
She, however, said that they would pay the fees once their sponsors, MTL, give them their monthly allocation.
Sanga-Kapatuka also questioned SRNL’s decision to scale them against a big team such as Escom Sisters in the league’s opener instead of starting them with a smaller team.
“I suspect they (SRNL) have a grudge against us. How could we start with a big team, when we are just coming from an off- season?” wondered Sanga-Kapatuka.
But Matiya insisted that they would shut the door on Queens if they do not pay the fees. She also said that no team has power or mandate to select which opponent to play.
“We do not force teams to join the league. The Queens wrote to us that they wanted to join; therefore, they are supposed to follow rules and regulations of the competition. They should not tell us what to do,” said Matiya.
