Only five clubs pass licensing test
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Thursday August 31, 2017 15:57
The exercise, which kicked off in May, saw only Township Rollers, Orapa United, Jwaneng Galaxy, Security Systems and Police XI satisfying all the requirements needed and attained 100 points.
The rest of the teams have been issued provisional licences and given up to October 31 to meet all the requirements or face expulsion from the league this season.
The clubs were adjudicated based on five categories: sporting, infrastructure, administrative and personnel, legal as well as financial. Under each category, the clubs’ applications for licences were judged on three criteria being A, B and C. Explaining to journalists yesterday, FIB chairperson, Mfolo Mfolo said criteria A is a must for all the clubs if they are to obtain an outright licences while the other two only guarantee a provisional licence. Rollers in particular, amongst those that managed to get outright licences are said to have gone an extra mile and submitted their budget for this season under the financial category. “That is very commendable. Remember for Rollers and Galaxy, it was imperative that they obtain 100% because they will be taking part in CAF competitions,” Mfolo said.
Uniao Flamengo Santos, Extension Gunners and Gaborone United (GU) were issued with provisional A licence with an excellent mark and still have a few requirements to satisfy before they can be licensed fully. Those that have been issued provisional A licence with a good grade are Sankoyo Bush Bucks, BDF XI, TAFIC and Gilport Lions.
Mochudi Centre Chiefs, Sharps Shooting Stars, Miscellaneous and Black Forest have much work to do before October 31 if they are to play in the elite league this season. They have been given provisional B licences with a pass mark.
The chairperson said most of the clubs are struggling with submitting audited financial statements. He said the statements have to be audited externally. “We have since proposed to the Botswana Premier League (BPL) board that these teams group themselves and engage one credible audit company. It is our belief that it will be much cheaper to do that,” he said. Mfolo emphasised the need to meet all the requirements adding that it is a FIFA sanctioned exercise, which must be done. He said failure by those that have been issued provisional licences to meet the October deadline will see their licences revoked even if they had already played some games in the league. “This is not a threat. It is how things should be done,” he said.
His words were echoed by another member of the committee, Phuthego Setete who said those that feel aggrieved can approach the Appeals body.
He, however, said the Appeals body will not deal with new information but will only deal with the information as submitted at the FIB by the clubs. Setete also said both Rollers and Orapa United’s applications for licences were turned down by FIB last year when they went for CAF competitions before they succeeded at the Appeals body.
Meanwhile, the FIB said monitoring and spot checks will be done throughout the season to ensure that clubs maintain what they agreed to do.
Mfolo warned that should there be any evidence that halfway through the season, one club has violated some requirements, their licences will be revoked.