SAFA’s Motlanthe Lashes Out at Defiant Royal AM for Snubbing PSL Playoff Games
- South African Football Association CEO Tebogo Motlanthe has shared his views regarding the saga between the PSL and Royal AM
- SAFA’s Motlanthe says the embattled club, Royal, should have approached an authority in Switzerland, not just an ordinary court in Mzansi
- This comes as the Durban-based outfit insists it will not honour their play-off games and feels they are the rightful First Division champions
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The South African Football Association has weighed in on the ongoing saga involving the Premier Soccer League and GladAfrica Championship side, Royal AM. According to SAFA CEO Tebogo Motlanthe, the embattled club was wrong to take football matters to an ordinary court of law.
Royal dragged the PSL to the Gauteng High Court to challenge the decision to promote Sekhukhune United to the DStv Premiership.
The decision by the league forced the KwaZulu-Natal side to fight for promotion in the PSL play-offs where they were scheduled to face Richards Bay and Chippa United.
However, the club owner Shawn Mkhize has insisted they will not honour the play-offs and have already failed to pitch for two of their matches against Bay and Chippa.
Source: Instagram
Motlanthe lashes out at Royal for their decision to take the PSL to court
The SAFA CEO was quoted by the SABC saying it would have been better for the club to take their matter to Switzerland, a court that specialises in sports matters and for urgency purposes.
Motlanthe said:
“As the South African Football Association first we had said despite all these rights that are enshrined in the constitution which we cannot go against but we are saying arbitration awards are binding, and I think the decision of judge Sunderland has proven in a way what we’ve been saying and as we have said to all key stakeholders when you take a football matter to an ordinary court of law they take their own time.
"For instance, the appeal court does not have an urgency role if it takes two months who does it affect? it affects everyone. The arbitration award is final and binding if people are not happy they can go to Zurich and appeal it because they at least they know the urgency.
"We know how congested is our court rolls in this country with State Capture referring cases there so once it gets out of control of football it’s going to prejudice players it’s going to prejudice clubs. We condemn the usage of the ordinary court of law to resolve football disputes.”
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Royal AM insists they will not honour the fixture against Richards Bay on Thursday
Following their failure to face their neighbours at Umhlathuze Sports Complex last week, Royal are set to host Richards Bay on Thursday afternoon.
However, CEO Sinky Mnisi insisted they will not pitch for the clash. The move comes after they failed to play against the Chilli Boys on Tuesday in Chatsworth. Mnisi told SowetanLIVE:
“It is simple. We are not going to be participants in the playoffs simply because we are top of the GladAfrica Championship. I can confirm that we will not play the so-called playoff match against Richards Bay on Thursday. We won the Championship fair and square on the field of play.”
A defiant Mkhize says Royal AM won’t be bullied by the PSL
In other stories related to the controversial football boss, Briefly News reported that social media was abuzz on Tuesday afternoon following Royal AM FC's decision to boycott their PSL promotion play-off fixture against Chippa United at the Chatsworth Stadium in Durban on Tuesday.
The club which is owned by businesswoman Shauwn Mkhize had earlier made an about-turn on a previous decision not to honour the fixture. The Durban-based side arrived at the stadium amid huge speculation by the media on whether they would indeed abandon the game.
But it seemingly ended up being the case, much to the shock of Mzansi's soccer-loving public, as Mkhize stuck to her guns after announcing on Monday that the club would not honour the scheduled fixture.
Mkhize said:
"...Violation of my rights, to fair competition, it's not my fault that the three points were not awarded before the last two games of the season."
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Source: Briefly News
