Soccer
Roses could return to the NFD─── 12:53 Fri, 11 Jul 2014
Lee Khotlele
Bloemfontein - Roses United could make a surprising return to the National First Division (NFD) in the 2014/15 football season should Baroka FC be found guilty of fielding an illegible player last season.
United, who were playing in the NFD last season, were relegated to the SAFA Second Division alongside Blackburn Rovers following a string of poor results.
However, it is yet to be seen as to where United, who filed a case against Baroka FC, will be playing next season.
The case involves Baroka's goalkeeper, Veli Mothwa, who allegedly signed another contract with the Premier Soccer League side, Polokwane City.
Several clubs laid a complaint against Baroka and the 23-year-old faced the PSL disciplinary hearing last year November.
He was subsequently found guilty by the PSL Disciplinary Committee, but appealed the decision and a final decision is still pending.
Should Baroka be found guilty, they will automatically be relegated to the SAFA Second Division and United will retain their NFD status.
A similar incident occurred two years ago when the Free State-based team, Carara Kicks, was found guilty of breaching the contract and were automatically relegated.
The PSL Disciplinary Committee, as well as the SAFA Appeals Board, found Carara guilty of fielding an improperly registered player and all the points and goals that Carara obtained in the matches where player was fielded were deleted.
Carara subsequently dropped to the Second Division (then known as Vodacom League).
Meanwhile, Roses coach, Clinton Larsen, said the pending decision will not affect the team’s pre-season preparations.
“If it’s a worst case scenario, we’ll play in the Second Division. If not, and the case go our way, we’ll play in the NFD.
Either way, we’re prepared for any scenario, which is why I came back earlier than most teams,” Larsen told OFM Sport.
The former Bloemfontein Celtic and Maritzburg United coach added that he had found balance in his squad, but would be looking to make few more signings.
“We wanted to hold trials and have players that qualify for the U21 and U23 rulings, because those are the two rulings we‘ve in the two divisions. So we‘ve made sure we cover all our bases and prepare for any decisions,” Larsen concluded.
