The fate of the Rhodes University 1st soccer team will be decided in the Makana Local Football Association's (LFA) general council next week, according to LFA president Ayanda Kota.
The fate of the Rhodes University 1st soccer team will be decided in the Makana Local Football Association's (LFA) general council next week, according to LFA president Ayanda Kota.
The team’s future in the LFA’s Premier Division is in jeopardy since the side sent a request to adjourn their upcoming games due the fact that students are writing exams.
However the LFA says they are already behind the league schedule and need to play as many matches as possible as quickly as possible to finish the league in time.
LFA president Ayanda Kota says the club is facing the prospect of being relegated should they not honour their matches.
The LFA Facebook page posted that the Rhodes club decided to pull out of the league, but Kota confirmed that the club, in fact, had sent an email requesting to postpone their games to accommodate their students' exam timetable.
“Yes, we got the email but we cannot withhold games as we are already behind with matches," he said.
He added, “We need to submit our league winners to the district and by the time the students finish with exams some will go to vacation work, some will go home.
By the time they come back, the league should be concluded, we are in a race to finish”.
Kota says next week the general council will decide according to the rules of SAFA on what to do with the Rhodes team.
According to Kota, one of the options they have is to terminate the team’s participation in the league.
In which case, SAFA rules say that would mean the team is treated as relegated.
Rhodes coach, Khaya Ngangqu, was perplexed by the talk of his team going down to the first division, saying when they put the request to the LFA, they expected the LFA would either say yes or no but not that they would be relegated.
Rhodes has been one of the league challengers this season and has less than seven games to go before concluding it.
Ngangqu says their objective is to win the LFA premier division and forfeiting the season is not part of their plan.
