KPL suspends league as players now threaten boycott
Kenyan Premier League Limited Chief Executive Officer Jack Oguda has announced that they shall not proceed with any more league matches until they receive further advice from the High Court.
Oguda said that they received a court order barring them from running the national league on Monday morning, but that they will challenge the matter in court to ensure that normal services resume soon.
“We received the injunction very early in the morning and we are currently preparing documentation so that we can challenge the court order in court and continue with the league action as had been planned. As it stands now, we cannot hold any league matches until the case is heard so we are hoping that that happens as soon as possible,” he said.
HIGH COURT INJUNCTION
The Football Kenya Federation had on Friday evening secured an injunction from the High Court barring KPL from conducting any matches that weekend, but league body went ahead to hold seven league matches across five stadia in the country, saying that they had not been notified of the injunction.
“It is hereby ordered that the Defendants/Respondents be and are hereby restrained by way of injunction from hosting, commencing, starting, running, managing or in any other way conducting a parallel premier league in Kenya in the name of the Kenyan Premier League or in any other name for 14 days from today 20th February, 2015.” A section of the court injunction read.
Following the development, Oguda said that they intend to adhere to the directives of the court order, but that they will use the same platform to argue out their differences against the national football administrators.
“We cannot go against the law. I think we have a legitimate case against our challengers which we shall argue out on those same courts,” he said.
Meanwhile, footballers drawn from all 14 premier league teams convened at Nairobi City Stadium o Monday where they threatened to stage countrywide boycoott if football administrators do not resolve the long standing impasse by the end of the week.
VENT FRUSTRATION
Bandari FC captain Wilson Oburu led the players in venting out their frustrations bought about by the current infighting between the Football Kenya Federation and the Kenyan Premier League Limited.
They said that both parties had shown great disregard to the players by maintaining their hardline stances.
“Both FKF and KPL are both taking us seriously, yet our livelihoods are at stake and we stand to lose the mot if the current standoff persists. We therefore give the two bodies seven days to resolve their differences failure to which we shall mobilize footballers and fans for a countrywide mass demonstration,” he said.