Royal AM wants PSL CEO Mato Madlala behind bars if guilty of contempt of court

FILE - PSL CEO Mato Madlala. Photo: BackpagePix

FILE - PSL CEO Mato Madlala. Photo: BackpagePix

Published Jul 8, 2021

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CAPE TOWN - In a comical turn of events, Royal AM have turned on Premier Soccer League acting chief executive Mato Madlala, who they say must be held accountable for the promotion/relegation playoffs taking place despite a court interdict.

Royal AM's call is hard to swallow because when this scandalous play-off saga was in its infant stages, it seemed like Madlala was an ally of the mutinous club.

ALSO READ: It’s a new week and the same PSL play-offs drama is set to continue

Despite a raft of disciplinary hearings and court cases, which no doubt set the club back hundreds of thousands of rands, Royal AM have not won automatic promotion to next season’s Premiership.

The saga became a catastrophe of epic proportions when Sekhukhune United were declared 3-0 winners and awarded three match points because Polokwane City had defaulted in a GladAfrica Championship game in January.

Earlier, the PSL disciplinary committee had rendered Polokwane's 1-0 win null and void because they had defaulted.

What the DC did not do at the time was to award the points to Sekhukhune and declare them 3-0 winners, in line with the rules governing the NSL competition.

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The appropriate rule states that the defaulting team will forfeit the game and the opposition shall be awarded a 3-0 win (a win is worth three points).

Had the DC done the necessary at the time, the saga would have come to an end.

At the time, the season had a few rounds left, and log points would not have been under the spotlight.

It remains a mystery why the DC did not then award Sekhukhune the points when they first dealt with the matter, since it was a basic course of action.

It would now seem a “smart Aleck” decided the awarding of the points would best be left for another day, and that Polokwane forfeiting the points was adequate.

ALSO READ: Defiant Royal AM in back-to-back no-shows on their home patch

Of course, if Royal AM had enough points to win the league outright, the DC’s award, one way or another, would not have played a role at the end of the season.

Sekhukhune, on the other hand, realised that they had been done in and resorted to legal action, weeks after the DC had dealt with the matter.

Then there was a curious turn of events as Polokwane turned to the courts to challenge the awarding of the points to Sekhukhune since it did not influence their log position.

ALSO READ: The mutiny continues as Royal AM abandon their second match in the playoffs

Equally curious was a Madlala penned statement which informed that the PSL supported Polokwane’s court application to review and set aside an arbitration decision that awarded Sekhukhune three points.

Again, it was hard to fathom why the PSL would question the arbitration’s decision since they turned to the arbitration to end the impasse.

What has now come to light is that attorney Happy Godi, who spearheaded Polokwane’s court action, also holds down the title of head of legal at Royal AM.

It was Godi who said that the PSL ignored the interdict and refused to suspend the play-offs.

He felt that the PSL should be tried for contempt of court, and if found guilty, the chief executive (Madlala) must be imprisoned.

@Herman_Gibbs

IOL Sport

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