Posted in News on Apr 21, 2003.
The Safa Appeal Board has overturned a decision of the PSL Disciplinary Committee and in the process found Chiefs guilty of fielding an improperly registered player but Mafani insists that when the player he was no longer a Sundowns player and that he had a valid clearance certificate issued by the league.
Following complaints by Sundowns that Amakhosi had used an improperly registered player, the PSL DC ruled on January 21 that the case was baseless and the league issued a clearance on that premise.
Sundowns played their first and second round matches against Chiefs that ended in a 0-0 draw at the Loftus and 0-2 loss at Rustenburg under protest, claiming McCarthy had not been properly registered.
"We are not bothered at all,” says Mafani. “Any player’s clearance that comes from the league is valid. We registered the player based on the fact that his clearance was issued on a court order.”
"A new rule states that if a player is no longer interested in playing for a club, that club will not have any hold on the player. The PSL issued a clearance on the basis that Sundowns had no basis for refusing to issue Fabian with a clearance.
"Fabian McCarthy took Sundowns to court as an individual and won that battle when he was declared a free agent. Now it’s interesting that Sundowns should lose the case in a court of law and hope to win in the Safa corridors.
"After that court order, Fabian was no longer a Sundowns player. If fact he was no longer their player the day his contract expired. We are not pressing panic buttons and our supporters should not panic.
"Fabian is our player and he was registered legally. We are proponents of the law and wouldn’t have registered the player if we had any doubts. It will be interesting to note how the PSL will handle this case.
Both Sundowns and Chiefs have been summoned to a Safa Appeal board hearing on Thursday where the judgement is likely to be formally delivered.
