Menzi Magubane
The battle between Royal AM and the Premier Soccer League (PSL) is starting to bore me.
How is it not over yet?
Yes, you have shown how stubborn you can be, Shauwn Mkhize. But let it go already, you lost and let the beautiful game begin.
As for the PSL, Dr Irvin Khoza and company, please get your house in order and avoid this situation in future.
On Monday, Judge L Wendell threw out Royal AM’s appeal seeking to place the league and their acting CEO Mato Madlala in contempt of court for continuing with the completed promotion/relegated playoffs.
The Durban-based club wants to continue to fight, despite losing the battle a very long time ago.
According to Royal AM official Richard Makhoba, Monday’s verdict changes nothing in their continued fight to be reinstated as the GladAfrica Championship champions. They hope to make it into the DStv Premiership this coming season.
“We wanted to declare the playoffs unlawful. We also wanted the CEO to be held liable for contempt of court, and staff and other teams, that participated in the playoffs,” said Makhoba on KickOff.com.
“And you can also remember, this was our secondary case, as opposed to the main case. Our main case is the leave to appeal the Sutherland [judgment], that we are taking to the Supreme Court.
“So, the judgement of today doesn’t obviously say much, except that we are still proceeding with our Bloemfontein Supreme Court application.”
This saga has the attention of Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa.
Should the minister intervene, it would be a disaster for our nation as far as international participation is concerned.
According to the world football governing body FIFA, any government interference on the running of football will result in that country being expelled and their national team will not participate in any FIFA tournaments.
FIFA statute 15 (c) states: “National association statutes are to be independent and avoid any form of political interference.”
This disagreement could lead to severe punishment if Royal AM continues to fight the PSL on the matter.
Picture source:@teeselopyane
