In what now appears a forlorn last throw of the dice, Kaizer Chiefs on Wednesday night failed to have the ban lifted on spectators attending Sunday’s intriguing Premier Soccer League (PSL) game against Mamelodi Sundowns at the FNB Stadium.
Chiefs were recently fined R100 000, had a R45 000 suspended fine put into place and were ordered to play their home games against Sundowns and Black Leopards in front of empty stadiums as a result of the violent behaviour and vandalism of their supporters during the Supa8 defeat against Bloemfontein Celtic.
And Wednesday night’s unsuccessful appeal to the PSL disciplinary committee — the same body that imposed the original sentence — was only one in the intricate chain of manoeuvres on the part of Amakhosi to have spectators present at the FNB Stadium on Sunday.
”The appeal Chiefs lodged with Safa [the South African Football Association] to have the sentence reversed or changed still stands and will be heard over the weekend,” said PSL prosecutor Zola Majavu after Thursday night’s appeal, ”but it won’t affect the decision to prevent spectators watching Sunday’s game.”
The ban will effectively mean a loss in the vicinity of R1-million for Chiefs, with a crowd of 50 000 quite likely on the cards for the Sundowns’ game under normal circumstances.
Stern Chiefs officials were non-committal after the verdict — and no wonder. They had earlier pre-empted the postponement of last Sunday’s appeal to Safa and advised their supporters to ”buy tickets for the Sundowns game”.
Now there will be no tickets going on sale — with Majavu declaring that ”Chiefs provided no valid evidence for the postponement of their sentence until the Safa appeal is heard”.
”And I don’t see any escape hatch for them now,” added the PSL prosecutor. — Sapa