Premier Soccer League want arbitration award set aside in High Court
South African football club Kaizer Chiefs has issued a statement saying it is “shocked and bewildered” by the Premier Soccer League’s decision to review a recent arbitration award concerning unfulfilled fixtures.
The Kaiser Chiefs statement said: “Despite a lack of formal communication from the league, which one would expect, the club has been informed of the PSL executive committee’s resolution to review the arbitration award of Adv. Nazeer Cassim SC, which was handed down on Friday, 18 March 2022.”
The statement added: “The arbitration award correctly decided that the interruption in the Club’s performance for the two missed December fixtures was temporarily halted by vis major (that is an overwhelming, unanticipated, and unpreventable event) created by Omicron [a coronavirus variant].”
The statement also said that it “appeared the league is dissatisfied with the outcome and intends to review it, with a view of setting aside the award in the High Court”.
Kaiser Chiefs claim that, by reviewing the arbitration award, the league is in breach of its own constitution and rules as well as South African Football Association statutes which “frown upon the [use of] court systems for resolving football disputes”.
The statement concluded that the club will have “no choice but to defend such a challenge as it is of the view that the arbitrator came to the lawful and reasonable conclusion that, it would have been negligent if not reckless for the club to field a team for the two games, and that Kaizer Chiefs acted as a responsible employer in the circumstances.
“The matter shall soon be sub-judice, and the club shall not give any further comment in this regard. We trust that the football-loving community will provide the club with the necessary respect and support required in attending to this matter.”