Galaxy Could Face Legal Trouble With PSL

TS Galaxy could be facing a legal battle with the Premier Soccer League (PSL), or even FIFA, as the new owners of Leicesterford City claim the club has illegally signed two of their players.

Leicesterford City, which recently purchased the status of JDR Stars in the Motsepe Foundation Championship, alleges that TS Galaxy signed players Anslin William and Matome Mmolai without paying a transfer fee.

According to Makatoane Lethwele Lister, the new chairman of Leicesterford, both players were under valid contracts at the time of the transfer. “I don’t even know the man (Tim Sukazi) from the bar of soap, I have never spoken to him, he has never spoken to my team members,” said Makatoane, expressing his frustration over the matter.

He detailed that Mmolai had a “two plus two” contract (two years with a two-year option) and William had a “one plus one” deal (one year with a one-year option).

Makatoane suspects that Galaxy’s chairman, Tim Sukazi, may have invoked an NSL rule to take advantage of the uncertainty at JDR Stars before the club’s sale was finalized.

“These are still my players,” Makatoane stated.

“The fact that he is referring to Rule 43.1.4, alleging that the team no longer exists, is neither here nor there. This is bringing the PSL into disrepute, and I don’t know how you gentlemen operate. But the question should be, in this instance, are we now going to win issues in the boardroom, where we will have technical matters with Leruma United, Marumo Gallants, and Cape Town City again?  

“You guys, the media have the responsibility to get to the bottom of this. The bottom line is, the rules are there.” 

Makatoane has threatened to take the matter to the highest levels of football if the issue is not resolved. He plans to first follow the procedures of the NSL, citing Regulation 52, but is prepared to escalate the case to the courts or even FIFA if necessary.

“There is a regulation 52 of the NSL handbook, we will look at that because in this instance, that is what regulates the whole debacle,” he said. 

“We will take the matter to the PSL in terms of the regulation 52, subsequent to that, we will then, under advisement with our legal advisors whether we take whether it is court or whether it is FIFA, but at this stage I supposed the NSL is part of FIFA. 

“We will definitely take to the attention of FIFA, but first we will follow the procedure of the NSL and if needs to be that we have to go to the court, we will look at that. But FIFA will also be made aware because we don’t want to be label as people who are bringing the PSL or the NSL into disrepute.  

“We will follow the letter of the law in terms of procedure and everything, and we will leave it at that.”  

When contacted for comment, Sukazi did not respond.