Cape Town Spurs call for the PSL to expel Moroka Swallows

SABC Sport has seen the strongly worded rebuke of the Dube Birds urging the League’s hierarchy and prosecutor Zola Majavu to throw the rule book at the Soweto outfit for failing to honour two fixtures last month. 

Swallows were forced to call off their DStv Premiership clash against reigning champions Mamelodi Sundowns hours before the two sides were to meet on 27 December at Loftus Stadium. 

The Dube Birds cited an ongoing dispute with the players, and their game against Golden Arrows – which would have played three days later – was also cancelled as precaution.

In another version of events, the SA Football Players’ Union claimed the club had failed to pay December salaries early as promised. 

Majavu has since confirmed charging Swallows with bringing the PSL, sponsors and media into disrepute, to which chairman David Mogashoa has already publicly stated they will plead guilty when they appear before the disciplinary committee tomorrow to avoid wasting valuable time. 

Spurs, who are currently bottom of the table with one win from 16 matches,  have seized the opportunity to remind the League of the harshest punishment available as they argue anything less than expulsion would be a “mockery”. 

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“The only reasonable deterrent is the imposition of more severe sanctions, such as the deduction of points, the expulsion of Swallows from the League, or their relegation to a lower division, all of which are sanctions that are within the League’s disciplinary committee’s discretion to award and which would be more appropriate in the current circumstances. The imposition of a fine and a forfeiture of the match is simply not enough,” reads the letter.

According to NSL rules, any member club seeking to have a fixture cancelled has to give 10 days’ notice at the very least. 

Swallows and the League only confirmed the news of the Sundowns game being called off several hours before, hence the opponents made their way to Loftus and followed all the fixture day protocol in the presence of the match officials before walking back to the dressing room. 

Downs want a walk-over and all three points. 

Spurs insist this caused serious harm to the PSL brand and set a bad precedent. 

“The reputational damage experienced by the League is also manifest. The League is often referred to as the most successful and best run on the African continent. The failure to fulfill fixtures causes great reputational hard, and the League appears amateurish and unprofessional when this type of incident occurs,” was another salvo fired by the Spurs hierarchy.

The public broadcaster reached out to the Swallows chairman for his response on views expressed by a rival club. 

Mogashoa said: “This is unbelievable and quite disheartening to hear because league points are not won with emails, but on the field. We are 15 points ahead of them and confident we will do the double over them in Cape Town.” 

Swallows are in 11th place and face Spurs on 31 March.