Fam asks Super League of Malawi to act on Silver Strikers The Lilongwe High Court ruling that Mighty Wanderers must pay Silver Striker K1, 950,000 after the cheque they issued for striker Tony Chitsulo transfer fee was dishonoured by the bank, has drawn the wrath of Football Association of Malawi (Fam). Fam says the ruling has breached Fifa article that clearly prohibits recourse to ordinary courts of law. “Recourse to ordinary courts of law is prohibited unless specifically provided for in the Fifa regulations. Recourse to ordinary courts of law for all types of provisional measures is also prohibited,” the statutes article 68 reads. It also stresses the obligation of association to make sure this article is implemented in the association, if necessary by imposing a binding obligation on its members. “The Associations shall insert a clause in their statutes or regulations, stipulating that it is prohibited to take disputes in the association or disputes affecting Leagues, members of Leagues, clubs, members of clubs, Players, Officials and other Association Officials to ordinary courts of law, unless the Fifa regulations or binding legal provisions specifically provided for or stipulated,” the article further reads. Fam general secretary Suzgo Nyirenda has since ordered Sulom to ask Silver to withdrawal the case. “As Football Association of Malawi, we are dismayed at Silver Strikers Football Club decision to take purely football matter to court. We believe that Silver Strikers F.C has contravened Fifa and Fam Statutes by taking the matter to court without exhausting all the avenues within the Football structures. “Fam has asked Sulom to request Silver Strikers F.C to withdraw the case from the ordinary court and use the right football channels to register their concern. Football structures are capable of handling this transfer issue which is purely football in nature. “As Fam we believe the issue could have been ably handled by Sulom legal structures and in case Silver Strikers were dissatisfied then the matter could have been referred to Fam. We appeal to Silver Strikers F.C to withdraw the case from the courts,” the GS said. Silver Strikers Legal Adviser and Counsel Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda said they just want the Nomads to pay the money the court has ordered or else they would move in to seize the Nomads asserts through sheriffs. “It was a simple case of dishonoured cheque. It was a straight forward issue. It indeed had nothing to do with Fifa statutes,” he said. High Court Judge Annabel Mtalimanja in her ruling stressed that the issue had nothing to do with the Fifa statutes. “The plaintiff and the defendants are both Football Clubs regulated by’ Fam Statutes. However the subject matter of the action brought by the plaintiff against the defendant is a dishonoured bill of exchange. “In this Court’s view the fact that both parties are Football Clubs does not, as a matter of course, imply that the matter of the dishonoured Bill of Exchange should be subjected to arbitration,” Judge Mtalimanja said in her ruling. But a football analyst, who opted for anonymity, faulted football authorities for failing to resolve the issue. “Did Fam or Sulom do anything at all when they learnt Silver had dragged Nomads to court? If they did nothing, they would be at greater fault than Silver seeking recourse in the ordinary court. And Wanderers have brought this upon themselves. They should have gone to the court to argue their case that the commercial court shouldn’t hear the case,” he said. “And mind you, the court that heard it; the Commercial Court, that’s how Silver wanted to treat it. And it is telling that in the entire judge’s ruling there’s no mention of Tony Chitsulo. It was tactical, they wanted this treated as a pure business case and earn more (mind, this will be K1,950,000 plus compound interest at 1% over bank lending rates. Obviously, a Sulom or Fam appointed arbitrator would not have been this generous, in my view.”
Posted on: Tue, 01 Oct 2013 17:20:26 +0000
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