SAFA arbitration rule on NFD case: Upington City vs Milford FC 

The SAFA arbitration committee on Friday ruled on the case involving promotion hopefuls Upington City, which challenged a decision made by the PSL DC against them in their matter with Milford FC.

Upington alleged that Milford failed to maintain the minimum required number of U23 players during a Motsepe Foundation Championship match in April.

But the PSL DC ruled that the protest by Upington was without merit and accordingly dismissed with costs. But Upington appealed the matter and was referred to SAFA arbitration.

There had been fears that the case might delay the start of the PSL promotion playoffs for a place in the DStv Premiership starting this weekend when Baroka travel to the University of Pretoria on Sunday, 2 June.

UPINGTON CITY LOSE SAFA ARBITRATION CASE AGAINST THE PSL

FARPost has now established that the SAFA arbitration ruled in favour of the PSL DC. This means the playoffs will go ahead on Sunday unless something dramatic happens.

Had the verdict come out in favour of Upington, this could have meant that the club would have leapfrogged Baroka to finish third and subsequently qualify for the playoffs.

BAROKA FC CHAIRMAN NOT DISTRACTED AHEAD OF CRUCIAL PROMOTION PLAYOFFS

Reacting to the ruling, Baroka Chairman Khurishi Mphahlele has told FARPost that he was confident from the beginning that there was no need to worry.

“From the onset when we heard about this [Upington decision to approach the SAFA arbitration], we listened and checked the facts, we knew that there was no need to panic,” said Mphahlele.

“We could see that they do not stand a chance. They didn’t have a case.

“We didn’t even want to entertain it. Entertaining it would have distracted us from the preparations. We were preparing like nothing was happening

“Even yesterday [Thursday] I was having a meeting with them [players] and we never mentioned that. We didn’t even want to entertain it because we could see that there was no case. It was actually not something we took seriously.”

“So far three buses are full. But the supporters are still registering to go to the match. This is an important match. This is what we have been praying for in the past two years. We have been playing to get into the Premier League. This is our chance to go there and grab the opportunity with both hands. We will make sure that we succeed,” he added.

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