Windhoek
It never rains, but only pours for former football great Jomo Sono and his club, Jomo Cosmos, as the Johannesburg-based outfit suffered a double blow within a space four days. Firstly, the club escaped being docked points for fielding an improperly registered player in the shape of goalkeeper Thabo Modiba. Cosmos were instead fined N$200 000 by the PSL for the irregularity involving the former Orlando Pirates (Namibia) shot stopper, who has been slapped with a nine-match suspension from all football related activities across all leagues.
The club avoided the same fate as Platinum Stars, who had a point docked in April and fined N$50 000 for fielding an ineligible player in Siyabonga Zulu. According to a statement released by the league: ‘The arbitrator has delivered the award on the matter between the PSL and Jomo Cosmos/Thabo Modiba.’ The matter was referred for urgent arbitration by the PSL according to Rule 59 of the NSL Rules. This follows the allegation that there was an infringement of the rules in the registration of Modiba by Jomo Cosmos.
The club was directed to pay SAFA’s and the PSL’s costs of the arbitration process, which includes the cost of two counsel and instructing attorneys for the PSL, traveling expenses of the two witnesses from Namibia and the arbitrator’s fees.
To add salt to the wound, Cosmos were dealt another blow when the club failed to escape relegation for the umpteenth time. Cosmos’ 3-1 defeat at the hands of fellow relegation candidates Virgil Vries’ Maritzburg United saw the club making a quicker than expected return to the National First Division (NFD) next season.