Cape Town - Royal AM, the high-riding Premiership upstarts, have learnt an expensive lesson after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Wednesday made a ruling in their case against Sekhukhune United and Premier Soccer League (PSL).
CAS which acts as the Supreme Court for sports disputes said in a statement it had dismissed Royal AM's case with costs on the basis that did not have jurisdiction to deal with the matter. The costs mentioned in CAS's statement are a mere pittance of what Royal AM will fork out now that all the parties know the matter has finally been concluded.
The costs mentioned in CAS's statement are for basic administration fees and for looking into the matter. In looking at the merits of the case, CAS would have noted that the arbitration adhered to all relevant FIFA rules and regulations. CAS does not have the jurisdiction to go beyond the rules and regulations of FIFA.
In the past, several football-related cases that were dragged before CAS were met with the same outcome and Royal AM's legal advisers would have been aware of it. And if that was the case, Royal AM were ill-advised to persist with the protracted legal battle.
At the heart of the Royal AM saga was the decision to award Sekhukhune United three points after Polokwane City defaulted in a First Division League clash. Instead of PSL dealing with the matter efficiently and appropriately, it dragged its heels on the matter for several months.
The PSL had found Polokwane guilty and slapped them with a fine, but it did not complete their work and award Sekhukhune a 3-0 verdict. Instead, Sekhukhune had to turn to the courts and arbitration to win their case.
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There was nothing wrong with awarding the Sekhukhune 3-0 verdict, but it did cause Royal AM to lose out on the First Division Championship title and also automatic promotion to the Premiership.
To this day, the PSL has never owned up for its dismal part in the protracted saga or offered an explanation why it failed to award Sekhukhune the match points after Polokwane were found guilty. In the rules of football when a team forfeits a game or defaults, the other team wins 3-0. There has never been a need to approach a court of law to be awarded the 3-0 result.
Looking back on the matter now, no one will be able to find a single reason why Sekhukhune should not have been awarded a 3-0 result.
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The outcome of the Royal AM saga should serve as a warning to Cape Town City FC and the PSL. They are in the process of going to court over the arbitration outcome to let Kaizer Chiefs play matches that they failed to play because they could not field a team.
City FC and the PSL contend that there is a rule in place which states that a team cannot hold up Covid-19 related reasons for defaulting. To date, three defaulting clubs have been punished using this rule. However, none of these clubs experienced a complete wipe-out so the club had to close down and adhere to government health and safety protocols.
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Now that the PSL have seen what happened elsewhere in the football world where entire clubs were laid low by Covid-19, they should by this time acknowledge their rule was short-sighted. It is OK to apply when a few players, not between 30 and 50, are unfit.
It would appear that not in their wildest dreams did they think a PSL club would suffer the same fate as English clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham who were unable to field a team because they were hard hit by the coronavirus.
Common sense prevailed and their parent body the English FA postponed those team's matches.
This is in essence what SAFA's arbitration has done in Chiefs' case, and it makes perfect common sense.
@Herman_Gibbs