AFTER PLE ERROR CORRECTED, MADLENYA PLAYER ... ESCAPES 3-MONTH BAN

MBABANE – Confusion surrounds the accumulation of yellow cards by a player from Premier League rookies, Madlenya.

This drama started last Friday when the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) issued a memo of the latest player/s suspended for week eight.
There was only one player according to the memo which was copied to the Sports Desk and the affected player was Madlenya defender Sithembiso Msibi. The memo dated December 1, 2022, stipulated that; “According to the record filed at the PLE Office the above-mentioned player has accumulated three (3) yellow cards. In terms of Article 9.2(1.1) of the MTN Premier League of the 2022/23 Rules and Regulations the player is therefore automatically suspended from participating in the next one match to be played by his team”.

Suspension

The memo further urged the team to ensure that the said player served his suspension as stipulated in the rule aforementioned. The memo was sent to the Sports Desk on Friday, a day before the Madlenya and Royal Leopard clash, which ended 3-2 in favour of the latter. On the day of the game, on Saturday, the player was in the starting lineup. Questioned on this, immediately after the game, Madlenya coach William Gamedze said he was not aware that the player was suspended. Interviewed yesterday, the coach said after checking records, they found that the player had two yellow cards before the Leopard clash.

“We keep records here at Madlenya and after you questioned me I went back to ask from the team and they told me Msibi had two yellow cards not three. This meant that he was eligible to play,” said Gamedze. When asked if they got an email from PLE, Gamedze responded to the affirmative but said the team officials informed them later after the game. He said the player only accumulated the third card during the game against Leopard, according to their records. He said he somehow believed everyone had mistakes, including those keeping records. The team Manager, Thulani Kunene said they had written to the PLE about this issue.

“The player has two yellow cards and we have written to the PLE this morning (yesterday) regarding this issue. We have not received any correspondence from PLE that I am aware off. The thing is, I’m not in office now to see if PLE has written or responded to us concerning this issue,” said Kunene. Meanwhile when PLE Football Manager Pat Vilakati was asked about this, he  had this to say; “What I can tell you is that the player was eligible to play. We did send a correspondence to Madlenya and only not to inform the media on time. Otherwise Madlenya were aware of the second memo correcting the first memo of the player being suspended,” said Vilakati.

Leopard officials, who were randomly interviewed after the game, said only if they knew they would have lodged a protest about the player. Indications were that Leopard would not protest since they had failed to lodge a protest before the start of the game. Madlenya won 3-2 courtesy of goals scored by striker Njabulo Maziya and a brace by Sethu Ngcamphalala.Leopard scored via Sidumo Dlamini and Thembisa Shabangu.
If the player was suspended as per the first correspondence, Madlenya would be charged and if found guilty of contravening article 9.2.1.1 of the MTN Premier League Rules and Regulations.

This article from the rules stipulates that, “Any player with three cautions (yellow cards) in any season shall be suspended from participation in the next one match to be played by his team in any official competition under the auspices of the PLE. A penalty for contravening article 9.2.1.1 is found on article 9.2.5 where it states that “Notwithstanding any provision in these rules, the PLE reserves the right to charge any player and/or club that contravenes Article 9.2.4, and if found guilty the offending club shall lose three points and three goals from the total number of points accumulated by the offending club. The offending player may further be suspended up to three months.”

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