Speaking exclusively to the Siya crew, a legal expert has spoken about a possible outcome in the ongoing feud between TS Galaxy coach Sead Ramovic and his Mamelodi Sundowns counterpart Rulani Mokwena.
Before the match for Galaxy and Sundowns at the Mbombela Stadium last night, reports emerged in local media that Galaxy approached the High Court about alleged defamatory comments made by Mokwena against Ramovic, as first reported by SABC Sport.
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Last month, Galaxy sent a letter to Sundowns and Mokwena demanding a public apology for what the club deemed to be defamatory statements by the league-winning coach.
Galaxy were not happy with Mokwena's post-match interview after his side's 3-0 victory against them at Loftus Versveld Stadium in April.
From that interview, Ramovic felt he was being accused of instructing his players to injure Sundowns midfielder Bongani Zungu.
"I don't want to talk about anything. They have taken it to court, let's meet in court."
Legal practitioner Kabelo Mashigo of KG Mashigo Attorneys says heading to court should have been avoided in this situation.
"I read about this whole Sundowns/TS Galaxy thing yesterday before the game and that there are court proceedings, and that summons were filed. My first reaction was, 'But this is not allowed in football.' The fact that Rulani made those particular statements in a post-match interview generally restricts any issues relating to the DC. In terms of our rules, NSL handbook as well as FIFA statutes, TS Galaxy were supposed to file a complaint with the league and have it dealt with that way. Relating to the summons being issued and all of that, I haven't seen the papers filed but it sounds like they have filed summons based on defamation in that Rulani made some defamation statements. I also saw that they (Galaxy) wanted a public apology in video, as well as a written one to be published on social media sites and all of that," said Mashigo.
"When it comes to answering your question as to what could be the possible outcomes, there could be an order that an apology be made. There could be an order that damages be paid but then the coach (Ramovic) and TS Galaxy would have to prove the damages, like what they suffered because of these defamatory statements. But that is a very difficult thing to prove because I doubt that they are suffering any damages because this is more of a reputational issue and more of an ego issue above anything else," he said.
"Looking at the number of supporters that Sundowns have compared to TS Galaxy, they wouldn't want to be seen as the club that is now telling players to retaliate… that Bongani (Zungu) should be harmed on the field of play. That statement itself by Rulani was uncalled for especially if he has no proof to that effect. The other issue that one must consider is that, because Rulani said, 'I heard from someone that the coach instructed players to do this and that', as much as TS Galaxy can come and summon him and go to court, evidence will need to be heard. If Rulani can confirm that so and so definitely said that to him and if that person can also come forward to confirm the conversation having taken place, then there is no defamation of character. Then it would mean that it's a fact that was said. But at the moment we don't know what the dynamics are," added the attorney.
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"But my first inclination is that this should not have been in court in the first place because this is a football issue and the NSL handbook requires that these kinds of issues be referred to the league. I guess TS Galaxy could have brought the matter before the PSL DRC because it's a member club who can claim against another member club, and that their coach is a member club official who can sue another member club official for these kinds of things. It's not stuff that we see on a daily basis but there are jurisdictional openings for them to have brought it to the PSL DRC. Whether they thought that maybe this will not be entertained properly and that maybe the High Court will be an appropriate place to go, that is up to them. I'm sure Mr. (Tim) Sukazi (Galaxy President) is a very intelligent legal practitioner and must have thought of the permutations that may come up from all these things and that they were sure this is the way to go," concluded Mashigo.
While these are the legal opinions of Mashigo, the court will reach its own conclusions based on the information presented on the day.
Soccer Laduma contacted TS Galaxy for comment but the club had not responded by the time this story was published.
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