Rollers face relegation
Township Rollers could be relegated to the second tier of local football if a full sanction is meted out for using defender, Onkarabile Ratanang who is regarded as a defaulter.
The record league champions will have their day before the Player Status Committee (PSC) in mid-May where they stand accused of using a player who was registered outside the transfer window.
The ‘scandal’ has already claimed the scalp of three football administrators. Former Botswana Football Association
(BFA) competitions manager, Setete James Phuthego was last week handed an indefinite suspension while Rollers’ general manager, Sidney Magagane, and the club’s team manager, Motshegetsi Mafa, were on the other hand suspended pending the finalisation of the disciplinary proceedings.
The three are said to have connived in the registration of Ratanang, which was done contrary to the BFA rules and statutes. Initial investigations show that the player was registered on October 29, 2021, yet the transfer window closed on September 30, 2021.
Rollers could be docked 12-15 points at a minimum while the most extreme would be to forfeit points the team won in every game Ratanang was involved in.
The fullback is said to have been involved in 16 games for the Blues and thus the team could lose as many as 48 points, assuming Rollers won those games. This would drop Popa to the bottom of the league standings with 11 points, four behind Gilport Lions. Popa are not new to registration complications as in 2016, the club was involved in one of the biggest sagas in local football. The club was docked 10 points for using Ofentse Nato whose registration was questioned.