However, the best came out as the walked away with a slap in the wrist; a P15,000 fine which they will probably have paid by lunch time today- in cash may be. Soon after the judgement, which took local football by surprise was delivered last night, one person remarked, "after all these months, an elephant has given birth to a mouse." It was an anti-climax.
Indeed it felt that way as Rollers, after intense months which divided local football, escaped with a P15,000 fine to be paid within three days. Rollers and so to does the Botswana Football League (BFL), has an option to appeal the judgement within 10days.
Emotions ran high over the last few months after Rollers were deemed to have improperly and fraudulently registered Ratanang outside the transfer window.
Former BFA official, Phuthego Setete and two Rollers members, Sidney Magagane and Motsheketsi Mafa were immediately suspended for their 'role' in the registration.
The transfer window ha closed on September 30 but the player was registered on October 29. Passing judgement, the Disciplinary Committee chairperson, Chalebgwa Manyapedza said the sanction could have been severe had there been a complaint brought forward within the stipulated period. No club had lodged a complaint with the BFL over Ratanang's improper registration.
The player featured prominently for Rollers before the discovery of his issue around March. "As stated in the main judgement, the player was a defaulter, and the issue of his status did not arise from a protest or a complaint or in any way as contemplated in the BFL Disciplinary Code.
It must be emphasised that the case would be different if at all the issue had been raised through a protest or any complaint where the aggrieved party if any, would have followed the set procedure in the BFL code," Manyepedza said in the judgement.
He said the matter was put "squarely under the ambit of Clause 6.3 of the BFA Play Rules and Regulations, contrary to the argument that has been made that we should look at any other instrument for purposes of finding appropriate sentence on the issue." "It is an established principle of sentencing that you cannot use one instrument to define a wrong and then jump to another for the purposes of finding a sanction purely to avoid the one sentence prescribed in the founding instrument," Manyepedza said.
He said the punishment is in line with Clause 6.3 which prescribes a fine not less than P10,000 and not more than P15,000. Rollers was further cautioned from committing a similar offence in future, while the panel had no kind words for the BFA whose office facilitated the registration.
"The relevant BFA office responsible for player registration is cautioned to be diligent and introduce sound controls around how applications for player registration and related queries are dealt with especially in respect of closure of deadlines for submission of application. The League may also have to look at the issue of rights of access to the FIFA Connect System," reads the judgement.
