Silver Strikers has faulted the Football Association of Malawi (Fam) Disciplinary Committee ruling on the eligibility of Chipiku League side Leyman Panthers players Taniel Mhango and Aggrey Msowoya.
This comes after the committee rejected Silver’s appeal in which they were challenging a ruling by the association’s Competitions Committee, which dismissed their complaints that Panthers featured two ineligible players Mhango and Msowoya during the Castel Challenge Cup round-of-32 match at Silver Stadium on November 5 this year.
A statement signed by chairperson of the Fam Disciplinary Committee Felix Mipande states that hearing of the appeal occurred on November 19 and that the decision of the Competitions Committee was upheld.
“It is this committee’s finding that there is no procedure and therefore, no possibility for a club to lodge a protest over fielding of an ineligible player after the match. The protest was indeed inadmissible.
“In the generality of it all, the appeal by Silver Strikers fails,’’ the statement reads.
Article 14.1.1 states that the protest shall be preceded by a nominal and motivated protest formulated on the proper form before the match by the captain of the protest team and communicated to Match Commissioner/General Coordinator countersign it.
Article 14.1.2 states that the protest shall be registered by the captain of the concerned team at half time to the Match Referee and confirmed in writing soon after the match.
But Silver Chief Executive Officer Patrick Chimimba said the club is a victim of poor administration.
“It is unfortunate and disheartening that the administration of football justice under the context of clear defects, deficiencies and flaws in the rules and regulations is being tolerated and promoted without regard to our strategic vision of reforming the governance face of the Malawi game,” Chimimba said.
He said the way Fam has handled the case leaves a lot to be desired and it is a recipe for disaster in future.
“Critically reading the verdict on our appeal, one is to see that Silver Strikers FC is being victimised on the basis of a legal technicality which is in itself a critical gap and deficiency in the Castel Cup Rules and Regulations,” he said.
Initially, Silver lodged a complaint that Panthers violated article 16.6 of the competition’s rules and regulations when they featured Mhango and Msowoya, who they claim had already played for Ekwendeni United and Mhuju, respectively.
Article 16.6 states that if a player played for a team in the competition, he cannot move and play for another team.
Silver lost the match 4-3 on post-match penalties.
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