The Premier Soccer League leadership dropped the ball by failing to deal decisively with the Tendai Ndoro saga when it first surfaced. Ndorogate, as it has become known, is likely to throw the league programme into disarray.
This week the Johannesburg High Court set aside the ruling by Safa arbitrator William Mokhari and ordered that Ajax Cape Town should regain their PSL status.
Judge Denise Fisher referred the eligibility of Ndoro – over which Ajax had effectively been relegated – to the Fifa players’ status committee. The league is set to appeal against the court’s decision to overturn the Ndorogate ruling, pending approval from the board of governors next week.
In Mokhari’s earlier verdict, he docked Ajax nine points, causing them to be dropped to last on the PSL log and relegated to the First Division. Now, Fisher has declared her ruling to be of no consequence – and Ajax are restored to their original position of 15th on the 16-team PSL log.
They are in the play-off position, which means the play-off that took place and was won by the Black Leopards is now null and void. All this could have been avoided had the league leadership provided the necessary direction.
The court’s ruling has thrown everything into disarray because it means the arbitrator’s decision is no longer final. Just like the referee’s decision is no longer final because of the video assistant referee (VAR), it means any aggrieved party can challenge future arbitrator’s decisions.
Where to from now?
Do we go to an 18-club league to accommodate Ajax Cape Town and bring them back into the fold? If so, who should take the other spot? Should Jomo Cosmos, by virtue of finishing third in the National First Division, get the nod ahead of the now relegated Platinum Stars (now Cape Umoya United). Stars, on the other hand, will feel they deserve another chance in the top-flight league.
It is a mess. And the leadership should take the blame for all of this.