2 years ago
1
ARTICLE AD BOX
Farook Kadodia (Gallo Images)
- Maritzburg United chairman Farouk Kadodia is concerned his team could be victims of skullduggery in this weekend's last round of DStv Premiership fixtures.
- Maritzburg drew 1-1 against Mamelodi Sundowns in a league game that was moved to Tuesday because of Sundowns' continental commitments.
- The relegation-threatened club, which is 14th on the log, has an anxious wait until Saturday to see if results go their way.
As the axe threatens to fall on Maritzburg United, who ended their DStv Premiership campaign on Tuesday, club chairman Farouk Kadodia is concerned about final match-day skullduggery come Saturday.
Kadodia's worry comes after events in the final round of the Motsepe Foundation Championship.
Pretoria Callies, who went into the match with little at stake, were crushed 4-0 by Polokwane City and the latter gained promotion into the elite league, while log leaders on that final day, Cape Town Spurs, drew 1-1 against the University of Pretoria to end in second place and their direct promotion denied.
"We don't need a rocket scientist because we all saw what happened in the first division (the Motsepe Foundation Championship) where we heard the coach lamenting the performance of certain players," Kadodia said.
"We cannot be getting to that level because the PSL is a big brand, and we can't be discounting the value of the brand.
"We were upset at the fact that we had to play this game knowing that there are teams who have an unfair advantage."
Making their protestations known against what they deemed unfair scheduling in the PSL this week, Maritzburg United drew 1-1 against Mamelodi Sundowns to finish their league campaign on 30 points on Tuesday.
The match had been moved to Tuesday as Sundowns have CAF Champions League commitments against Wydad Casablanca on Saturday in the second leg of their semi-final.
That result moved them from 16th to 14th, but they are at the mercy of adverse results.
Fellow basement dwellers Chippa United, on 29 points, and Marumo Gallants, also on 29 but with a better goal difference, have home and away fixtures against Golden Arrows and Swallows FC respectively on Saturday.
MATCH REPORT | Maritzburg hold Sundowns in coronation game, still face anxious relegation wait
Should either of these two teams secure draws, Maritzburg will be relegated because of an inferior goal difference.
Kadodia said the club had walked this path before when they saved themselves with a late 3-1 win over Jomo Cosmos in 2016 that ended up sinking the latter while Maritzburg stayed up.
"We're concerned because we had a very bumpy situation in 2016, when we survived relegation on the last day because other results were swinging differently before we scored three late goals.
READ | PSL relegation permutations: Chippa, Maritzburg walking the plank as NFD beckons
"At the end of the day, there are no rules to stop clubs from believing what they want to believe."
Sundowns' CAF program has seen several of their matches being moved around over the years, including a recent game against Gallants that was moved to 6 May from last week to accommodate their CAF commitments.
Kadodia, who admitted later in the post-match interview that he had forgotten that the league had, at times, finished later to accommodate CAF combatants, said the league should have gone for an alternative date that would accommodated all the teams.
READ | Downs and out? Maritzburg files complaint to PSL over 'unfair' scheduling of final-day matches
"The moment the league realised that there were three teams fighting for relegation, there should have been an approach to see how an alternative date could be found to resolve this issue," Kadodia said.
"We suggested that the three teams play tonight or on the 23rd and we were turned down, from where we were given the explanation of Gallants playing their 29th game in advance.
"It was Gallants' prerogative to have protested that fixture and they didn't do it, so we can't be accountable for that.
"I feel that the league should have taken a decision before this game because the situation is as such that you can't give an unfair advantage to two other relegation-threatened teams - a four-day advantage."
English (US)