Ndoro, Ajax and PSL all guilty of chaos
● It’s touch and go whether the 2018-19 Premier Soccer League (PSL) will start as scheduled on August 3.
But the question we should be asking is why the PSL got into the shambles it finds itself in.
Why did it take a column written by my colleague in our pages on the Sunday of January 28 before the PSL and everyone else woke up?
As I tried to find answers following Judge Denise Fisher’s judgment on Monday in the case regarding Ajax Cape Town’s signing of Zimbabwean striker Tendai Ndoro, it became obvious that there were three parties who had ample time and means to put the brakes on the conundrum SA football has been plunged into.
The parties who should have raised alarm bells include Ndoro and whoever was his agent (I bet he knew the rules), Ajax and the PSL administration.
When Ndoro got wind of Ajax’s interest in his services, if he and his advisers bothered to peruse the Fifa rules about the registration of players, they would have advised Ajax to forget about his signature unless they wanted him for the season —
It wasn’t going to cost anyone to read the rules and alert Ajax of their error
which we now don’t know whether or when it will start.
Had Ndoro played by the rules, he would have told Ajax that he couldn’t sign and play for three teams in a season falling under the same calendar year as per the instructions of article 5.3 of Fifa Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players.
And the fact that finding the rules on Fifa’s website takes less than five minutes makes this whole saga even more awful.
Ajax were equally careless and shameful in the way they dealt with the Ndoro signing and its implications.
By the time Ajax signed Ndoro in the January transfer window he had already played for Orlando Pirates and Saudi Arabian outfit Al Faisaly in the 2017-18 season.
Ajax knew about Ndoro’s previous two clubs but in their desperation to stave off relegation they failed to check out the Fifa rules on registration.
This week an insider at the PSL admitted that it was because of a lack of oversight on the part of Ndoro, Ajax and the league administrators that the Zimbabwean’s registration error was picked up “in the media” only after the damage had been done.
The PSL insider conceded that had the PSL checked the rules of registration they would have raised the red flag immediately when Ndoro’s name first appeared in Ajax’s line-up for the match against Platinum Stars in Cape Town on January 12.
In an attempt to defend their actions, PSL chairman Irvin Khoza told the media on Thursday that it is not the responsibility of the league to read the rules on behalf of the clubs.
“Everybody has the obligation to read the rules and if you are not sure you’ll check with the league,” said Khoza.
“When we (PSL) give out the playing card, the playing card does not give you the right to play but it is to say the player is registered.”
Despite the fact that Khoza was correct, had they advised Ajax of their fault right at the outset, they would have saved everyone blushes and money.
What didn’t help the PSL was their own Dispute Resolution Committee (PSL says it is an independent body) giving Ajax leeway to continue using the player until the matter was settled through arbitration.
Armed with a DRC ruling, Ajax indeed used Ndoro until the uproar over his registration reached unbearable heights.
Judge Fisher’s judgment on Monday gave everyone concerned a huge fright and a lot to ponder. It is a judgment that is open to all sorts of interpretation, depending on which fence you’re leaning on.
Judge Fisher issued two orders: (i) The award of Mr Mokhari SC is to be set aside.
(ii) The eligibility of Mr Ndoro to have played in the 2017-18 season of the PSL may be decided only by the Fifa Player Status Committee.
The PSL on Thursday indicated they will appeal against Monday’s judgment but Ajax have not indicated their next move.
If Ajax were confident enough to win their case where Judge Fisher ordered them to take it, they would have done so.
But knowing that taking Ndoro’s matter to Fifa will be tantamount to tossing themselves into a wildfire, Ajax have played their game in local courts hoping that someone will sympathise with them.
It is that game that has pushed South Africa’s professional football into chaos.