No appeal from BB
- FAM says deadline was Monday
Nyasa Big Bullets have again failed to appeal against Football Association of Malawi’s (FAM) decision to bar them from the next edition of the Airtel Top 8.
FAM general secretary Alfred Gunda yesterday said by cut-off point on Monday, the People’s Team had not filed their appeal.
The football governing body gave Bullets a seven-day ultimatum last week to submit its appeal.
“The deadline was Monday and we did not get an appeal from Bullets. In fact, up to now, we are not in receipt of their appeal,” he said.
On his part, Bullets chief executive officer Fleetwood Haiya said: “As at now, I cannot comment. We will hold a press briefing tomorrow
to state our position on this matter complete with the reasons for our decision.”
However, a well-placed source confided in The Nation that the People’s Team decided against appealing the case after being put off by some of the conditions which included an K800 000 appeal fee.
Bullets expressed interest to appeal against the local soccer governing body’s decision after being given a three-day ultimatum.
This was the second time that FAM gave Bullets the green light to appeal against the ban after their earlier appeal was thrown out due to late submission.
In December 2018, FAM Competitions Subcommittee chairperson Jabbar Alide stated that unless Bullets appealed, they would be ineligible to participate in the 2019 edition and that their slot would be taken by Kasungu-based TN Stars, who finished ninth in the 2018 TNM Super League.
The People’s Team was banned from taking part in the 2019 Airtel Top 8 and were fined K7.2 million by FAM for the ugly scenes that occurred during the final match of the 2018 edition against eventual champions Blue Eagles at the Bingu National Stadium which the Malawi Police Service (MPS) side won 1-0 via a goal from a penalty converted by Stuart Mbunge which sparked protests from Bullets fans.
