By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
A High Court judge, Justice Komba Kamanda has ruled that four plaintiffs who brought a case against the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) have the legal grounds to do so.
The judge made the statement as part of a ruling on Wednesday following weeks of arguments by both the legal counsels of the SLFA and a group of four football stakeholders.
The four are seeking to overturn a decision by the FA to conduct a playoff as part of efforts to expand the Sierra Leone Premier League, which will give the northern province an automatic .
The legal team of the SLFA had consistently argued that the constitution of the FA does not give the plaintiffs right to bring the football governing body in the country to court, a point which the legal representative of the plaintiffs has always opposed, with both sides stating SLFA constitutional provisions.
Wednesday’s ruling means that the case will now proceed to trial; with issues like the merit and demerit of the Northern region playoffs up for scrutiny.
Whiles the case continues, the injunction on the playoff is still in place. This puts the FA’s move for a 16-team premier league in jeopardy.
Last week the SLFA announced a new Premiere League Board in preparation for the start of the season. The board is still uncertain whether the new 2019/2020 league will see 14 or 16 teams take part.
This week, the Head of Media at the FA, Ibrahim Kamara said the preparation for the start of the league doesn’t hinge on the case in High Court.
“We are working towards having 16 teams but you know the Northern region playoff has been put on hold as a result of the court injunction and this is not to say if a ruling is not passed as soon as possible we are still going to wait for that. We are going to progress with arrangements and plans,” he said.
Those arrangements and plans are yet to be announced by the new Premiere League Board.
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