PSL in a tight spot over promotion/relegation playoffs

THE mighty PSL have been driven into a corner by lower-tier club Royal AM whose daring legal ploy has sent shock waves through national football's corridors of power.

Royal AM have proved that they are no small fries and have defiantly brought the PSL relegation/promotion playoffs to a screeching halt. Numerous social media posts show that Royal AM coowner Shauwn Mkhize, a wealthy Durban businesswoman, has vowed to stop the playoffs unless her team were declared GladAfrica Championship winners.

Royal AM, a NFD outfit playing in the GladAfrica Championship, have now managed to stop the playoffs, which were scheduled to start on Tuesday. Royal AM approached the Gauteng Supreme Court after a recent arbitration ruling that resulted in them being declared NFD runners-up. On Monday, acting judge Nyathi of the Gauteng Supreme Court issued an interdict that halted the playoffs. The outcome was a massive show of sway which the embittered Royal AM had exercised in their relentless pursuit of being declared GladAfrica Championship winners instead of runners-up.

The Supreme Court's interdict stung the PSL into action on Monday. Whereas they appeared to be sympathetic to Royal AM's plight in the past, the sentiment in their latest statement suggests they no longer have the capacity to tolerate further delays of the playoffs.

“The PSL has been compelled to seek urgent relief as the last day of the official season is the 30th of June 2021,” the PSL statement, in part, read.

"Many player contracts terminate on that date, and any further delay in completing the playoffs places the start of the 2021/22 season at risk."

For the first time in this relegation/ promotion saga, the PSL appears to be vulnerable. The PSL's great fear is if the playoffs are not completed by 30 June, clubs may not have players for fixtures beyond that date as many contracts would have come to an end by then. The two other clubs in the playoffs along with Royal AM, are Chippa United and Richards Bay, the GladAfrica Championship team that finished third on the standings. Chippa finished second-last in the Premiership and managed to avoid automatic relegation, which was the lot of Black Leopards who ended last.

Without any fanfare, the PSL quietly issued the three clubs with a revised playoff fixture list even though they are yet to know the outcome of their appeal application against the Nyathi ruling.

There is no indication when the outcome of their appeal will be known, but it is likely that the matter will be heard tomorrow.