… but weekend loss to Prisons X1 brings them full circle to where they were before their points were restored to them – out of contention for a promotional playoff spot
GAZETTE REPORTER
The Adjudicator of the Botswana Football League (BFL), Charles McErick has concluded the long drawn out saga between Mochudi Centre Chiefs and the First Division South league committee whereby the latter deducted four points from Magosi for alleged failure to remit in their last four home matches.
McErick, who presided over the matter recently, delivered his verdict that saw Chiefs regain the four deducted points last Wednesday.
Gate takings too
The ruling also instructed the First Division South committee to pay back Magosi their 70 percent gate taking allocation from their 15 December 2023 game against Prisons XI.
The Kgatleng club had argued, in their defence against FDS, that they were not given the lion’s share of the gate takings against an institutional team as per the stipulations regardless of whether the game was at home or away.
But Chiefs will be required to remit the home games played since week 10 and set entrance fees at P25 for all games since 15 December.
Reimburse
The club is required to ensure that it had not succeeded the P25 entrance fee without accounting for any exceeded amounts when remitting to the Botswana Football Association (BFA).
In the ruling, McErick instructed Chiefs to “reimburse the league the overcharged amount of P5 per gate taking for the game played on December 15 against Prisons XI.
This will be 16.6 percent of the gate takings that are to be remitted in full (after paying of all other remittances in terms of Article 17.3 of the BFA Rules and Regulations).
Additional punishment
Failure to do so will see the club docked one point for all the matches that the club exceeded the entry fee of P25 and a further penalty of P2000 for every match in which they exceeded the set entry fee.
An additional punishment in this regard is a one-year suspension from all BFA related activities.
Magosi were previously at 27 points after being docked points. The club was then given a boost after the ruling and assumed 31 points, which puts them back into contention for a promotional playoff spot.
Full circle
However, Magosi have not capitalised on their lifeline as they lost 1-0 against Prisons XI over the weekend, thus coming full circle to where they were before their docked points were restored.
The 1-0 defeat has all but ended Chiefs’ playoff hopes. Second-placed Uniao Flamengo Santos is now in pole position to secure the promotional playoff spot with one game left to play in the 2023/2024 season.
Before Sunday’s league action, Santos were six points ahead of nearest challengers, City Polar FC, who had a game in hand.