No hard feelings as Bucks back Tornado

Mthatha Bucks have fully thrown their weight behind Tornado, the Eastern Cape representatives at the ABC Motsepe League playoffs.

This after the Mthatha-based outfit lost their arbitration hearing about a protest Bucks lost to Tornado – which saw Bucks relinquish their position atop the log-standings.

The protest was initially lodged and won by Tornado against Yaka United, who were found guilty of fielding improperly registered players during a 2-all draw between the two sides in March.

The SA Football Association DC ruled in favour of the Mdantsane-based reigning champions. But Bucks were adamant that Tornado didn’t follow the correct Safa-mandated procedures when lodging that protest against Yaka.

They were therefore not supposed to have been awarded three points from that game that, in turn, saw Bucks being relegated to runners-up.

Mthatha Bucks chief operating officer Lunga “Doc” Tukute welcomed the decision after the round-table discussion which was held at the senior counsel’s chambers in Johannesburg over the weekend.

He told the Daily Dispatch after they took the matter to arbitration they were satisfied by the verdict.

“We are happy now because we got a fair judgment. After long deliberations, we were advised that we would get the verdict later on Saturday, but were later told that we’ll only know on Sunday morning.

“We were officially told that we lost the arbitration and the reasons why we lost it would follow, but we are happy because the process was fair,” said Tukute.

He said the only thing they would do now was to support Tornado, who are on their quest for glory, fighting for promotion to National First Division status in Cape Town.

“We want to say congratulations to Tornado for making it to the national playoffs. We fully support them as Mthatha Bucks.

“We wish they can compete well at that stage and this time hopefully they can gain promotion to NFD. We are fully behind them and there are no hard feelings.

“We were just exercising our rights as ABC Motsepe League affiliates and we’ll go to Cape Town and support them on their quest,” said Tukute.

Tornado’s acting chairperson, Yanga Nyobo, was pleased with Bucks’ support and said they were welcome to join them in the Mother City.

“We appreciate their support, we are all good colleagues and we understand they had to try their luck. But it’s the Safa rules and statutes that govern us as clubs.

“So we have no hard feelings towards Mthatha Bucks. I will welcome them with open arms if they make it to Cape Town,” said Nyobo.

We want to say congratulations to Tornado for making it to the playoffs