Kaizer Chiefs have lived up to their billing as pioneers and innovators of local football, albeit in ways that they would not be proud of.
Chiefs were one of the first teams to secure a long-term corporate sponsor when they signed a deal with Premier Milling in the 1980s. They were the first South African club to have built a ”village” that is a home for their players, a training ground and the club’s headquarters. They brought an unknown Frenchman, Philippe Troussier, here when he was not yet one of the world’s most respected football brains.
If the Premier Soccer League (PSL) has its way, Chiefs will also be the first local side to be forced to play in an empty stadium. This is after the South African Football Association (Safa) appeal board upheld the guilty verdict passed by the PSL on three offences relating to their fans destroying and burning seats at the FNB Stadium in August.
The fans’ show of anger, ostensibly against the coach’s methods when losing against Bloemfontein Celtic in the SAA Super 8, ended with Chiefs this week being ordered to play one league match behind closed doors and being fined R145 000.
The club will play two more matches without their fans present if found guilty of a similar offence in the future.
Chiefs boss Kaizer Motaung was this week frothing at the mouth. He thought the punishment exceeded the crime. The club was contemplating taking the matter to arbitration, which will mean delaying yet another match.
On the surface, Motaung’s threats smack of the club flexing its considerable muscles to get its way. The call from football fans, including a few of Chiefs’ own, is for the club to take the decision on the chin — play the game and hope that the fans don’t misbehave again.
But looked into more carefully, Chiefs are keeping up with their tradition of being thorough in any matter which affects their image and coffers. Chiefs, who pleaded guilty to all charges against them, have, in summary, demanded their right to fair administrative justice.
They argued that the club was denied the right to a fair hearing because PSL chief executive Trevor Philips hinted that a fan ban would be his preferred sanction. When the decision fitted Phillips’s wishes, Chiefs had reasonable grounds to believe the tribunal was no more than a kangaroo court that had already made up its mind by the time the hearing started.
Football clubs deserve assurances that tribunals hearing their cases will be open minded and come to a decision once they have properly applied their minds.
That the club had to go to court, ignoring a directive from Fifa that all the sport’s disputes be handled within the ”football family”, had more to do with the lack of a declaratory order determining whether fans were to be allowed in for their match against Sundowns while the appeal was to be heard on the same day.
But in the end, the spirit of fair play ought to prevail. Chiefs fans did try to burn the stadium down. Again the proud club will have to chart new paths and be the first to play in front of just the media and club officials.
They can take comfort in the knowledge that they have ensured that other clubs facing the league’s disciplinary tribunals are not treated like naughty schoolboys in the headmaster’s office.