Black Leopards owner David Thidiela has strongly rejected suggestions that the club has been relegated from the Motsepe Foundation Championship, insisting the Limpopo-based side should not be playing in the ABC Motsepe League this season.
Black Leopards finished at the bottom of the Championship standings, putting their status in the second tier of South African football in serious doubt. However, Thidiela maintains that the clubโs failure to secure enough points was heavily influenced by a dispute surrounding the registration of players and a series of matches that he believes should not have been played under the circumstances.
Speaking on the matter, Thidiela insisted that Black Leopards remain a Championship club and argued that the club should be allowed to contest the matches he believes were affected by the registration situation.
โNo. Because I’m not relegated,โ Thidiela said.
He explained that Black Leopards had sought clarity from the relevant football authorities regarding whether they were permitted to register young players from their academy.
According to Thidiela, the club approached the leagueโs legal adviser to establish whether the academy players could be registered, but were allegedly advised against doing so. He said the issue was subsequently raised with the chairman, but by then Black Leopards had already missed several matches.
Thidiela disputes Black Leopards’ match situation
Thidiela claims the situation resulted in Black Leopards being unable to field the squad they believed they should have had available for a number of fixtures.
He pointed specifically to four or five matches, including the fixture against Upington United, which was eventually postponed and played at a later date.
โThe four games has already gone, or five? The five games, the Upington one were allowed by Upington United to say no. We can shift our game. Then we force it to be postponed, which we later played,โ he explained.
The Black Leopards boss argues that the points from those matches could have had a major impact on the final league standings.
His position is that the club should be given an opportunity to play the fixtures he believes were affected by the registration dispute rather than accepting relegation based on the final table.
FIFA letter central to Thidiela’s argument
A major part of Thidiela’s defence centres around correspondence he says was received from FIFA.
According to the Black Leopards owner, FIFA informed the club that it was not under a ban, raising questions over why the club was allegedly unable to proceed with player registrations.
Thidiela says the club subsequently requested documentation from the relevant authorities proving that Black Leopards had been formally banned from registering players.
โFIFA says no, they are not banned. We said the League must give us a letter to show that we are banned by you, by SAFA, by everybody. Give us something to prove. Nobody gave us anything,โ he said.
He also recalled how the club was instructed to collect its player cards after the issue arose.
โThe same day, they phone the chairman. Say, come and get your cards. Hey, what happened? Come and get your cards. Okay, they were picked. Then we went on,โ Thidiela added.
Black Leopards want points from disputed matches
Thidiela’s argument ultimately comes down to the points Black Leopards believe they lost as a result of the circumstances.
He claims the club played matches while dealing with the registration issue and believes those fixtures should be reconsidered.
โI’m saying the four games we played is 12 games. It’s 12 points. We want to play that. We played it 10 years. So we were not late,โ he stated.
Thidiela therefore remains adamant that Black Leopards should not be regarded as relegated and says the club intends to pursue the matter rather than accept a move down to the ABC Motsepe League.
The dispute could now become an important issue for South African football authorities as the new season gets underway, with Black Leopards’ final status potentially dependent on the outcome of the club’s challenge and the interpretation of the registration and fixture regulations.
For now, however, Thidiela’s position is unequivocal: Black Leopards are not relegated in his view, and the club expects to remain in the Motsepe Foundation Championship.
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