Safa charges Buya Msuthu and Dolphins with misconduct

The SA Football Association (Safa) has condemned the recent acts of unsportsmanlike conduct during the recent ABC Motsepe national playoffs in East London involving North West’s Buya Msuthu and Limpopo’s The Dolphins.

Safa says the conduct of the two teams’ players left several questions that needed to be answered.

“As a result, the Association has resolved to charge Buya Msuthu [North West] and The Dolphins [Limpopo] with serious misconduct, which the Association deems as unprofessional and a violation of the Safa competition rules and regulations.

“The association has charged the two clubs. With regards to Buya Msuthu and their players, it found that the players and officials behaved in an unsporting manner, and played the game with no intention to win.

“Their behaviour was in contravention of the Competition Uniform Rules and Regulations, in particular Rule 24.4.4.

“The players went to the field with no intention to compete and to violate the FIFA Fair Play principles. Their actions have brought the game, Safa and its sponsors into disrepute.

“The association has therefore decided to charge three players involved and the club for such a conduct.”

Referring to Dolphins: “The club committed serious misconduct by fraudulently replacing Under-23 players with overage players before the start of their matches and infringed the regulations, which provide that “clubs must start all the games with a minimum of five Under-23 players.

“The club’s actions have brought the game, Safa and its sponsors into disrepute. They will be called to a Safa disciplinary hearing on a date still to be determined.”