MALANTI CHIEFS DEMAND ’LANDERS MATCH REPLAY

MBABANE – Malanti Chiefs have written a letter of complaint to the Premier League of Swaziland (PLS) and seek a replay of their MTN league game against Mbabane Highlanders played last Sunday at Mavuso Sports Centre.

The gold and black ensemble, who are mathematically relegated from top flight football as fellow relegation candidates Bad Boys still have to play each other, argue that the match was played outside the MTN Premier League 2015/16 Rules and Regulations. PLS was served with the letter on Tuesday, according to team’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Menzi Dlamini. 

Upon seeking answers on their complaint yesterday, Malanti received a response that the organisation was still consulting and Dlamini said if their wish of a replay is not granted, they were ready to approach courts to hear their complaints.
The game between the two sides started two hours later than the scheduled 3pm kick-off after the first game pitting Red Lions and Manzini Sundowns was delayed following the unavailability of match officials.

Article 5 (1) of the MTN rules states that ‘referees shall report to the venue of the match at least one and half hour before the scheduled start of a match and that in the event one or two referees fail to show-up 30 minutes before commencement of the match, the match commissioner and PLS Official shall appoint substitute referees.’ In this case, the referees for the match were already in the venue but it continues in Article 5 (2) that ‘if 15 minutes after the scheduled start of the match, all referees fail to arrive and the Match Commissioner or PLS Official cannot provide substitute referees, they shall call off the match. The referees scheduled for that match shall be subject to disciplinary conduct in terms of the referee’s code of conduct.’ Dlamini went on to describe last Sunday’s game as a friendly game and advised the PLS operational officers to advise the executive correctly on the matter.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: