Royal AM fined R4m, of which R2.8m is suspended
Royal AM have been fined R4m —R1m per match — in the disciplinary committee (DC) hearing outcome into the four playoffs games they failed to honour, the Premier Soccer League (PSL) said.
Of that R4m sanction, R2,8m — or R700,000 of the R1m per game — is suspended for two years, so the total to be paid is R1.2m.
The club was also deducted 12 points —three for each of the four games they did not honour —from the current 2021-22 season. This was suspended for a year on condition the infringement of not honouring a match was not repeated.
It is understood Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila FC (TTM), who have bought the GladAfrica Championship (National First Division, or NFD) status of Royal AM, will take ultimate responsibility for paying the fine and other sanctions handed out by the DC.
This was according to the interpretation by PSL legal head Michael Murphy in last week’s press conference, explaining the sale agreements of Bloemfontein Celtics’s Premier Division status to Royal and Royal’s NFD status to TTM.
It was not clear if Royal owner Shauwn Mkhize — who has bought Celtic, renaming it Royal AM and moving it to Durban — has any agreement with TTM owner Lawrence Mulaudzi to pay the R1.2m fine.
Royal were found guilty on all charges by the DC on August 11.
Eric Mabuza of Mabuza Attorneys, who represented Royal in the matter, had earlier on Tuesday said the sanction was arrived at by means of a “settlement”, but the PSL made no mention of this in their statement.
The PSL’s statement read: “The club was found guilty of all charges of misconduct against it arising from its failure to honour its fixtures against Chippa United FC and Richard’s Bay FC which were to be played from June 19 to 30.”
The sanctions were: “All four matches which it was obliged to participate in but failed to do were awarded to their opponents with a 3:0 goal difference.
“Royal AM was fined the maximum fine in terms of the NSL Rules, being R1m per match (total R4m) with R700,000 of each fine (total R2.8m) suspended for two years on condition that during the period of suspension it did not fail to honour any NSL fixtures.
“The club was further sanctioned with a deduction of three points for each game not played (12 points in total) for the current season. This deduction was also suspended for one year on condition that during the period of suspension it did not fail to honour any NSL fixtures.
“Royal AM FC was ordered to pay all the costs of the sittings in the four matters.”
Royal bought the status of Celtic after a lengthy legal battle to overturn an arbitration ruling awarding three points, and consequently the NFD title, to Sekhukhune United, met a series of defeats.
The Durban team played their first top flight match on Sunday, losing 1-0 against Swallows FC at Dobsonville Stadium.