High Court halts Uganda Premier League kick-off

What you need to know:

This follows a temporary court injunction that was obtained by Maroons Football Club, who petitioned saying they were unfairly excluded from taking part in Uganda’s topflight league yet they have never been relegated.

KAMPALA

High Court in Kampala on Friday temporarily stopped the kick-off of the new top flight football season 2014/15 that was scheduled to start tomorrow. This follows a temporary court injunction that was obtained by one of the aggrieved football clubs, Maroons.

Maroons petitioned court saying they were unfairly excluded from taking part yet they have never been relegated to a lower league.

The injunction that was issued by the Deputy Registrar of the court, Charles Emuria, will stay in place until the woes of Maroons are heard and disposed off. It was issued against Uganda Super League Ltd (USLL), Federation of Uganda Association Ltd and Fufa president Moses Magogo (pictured left).

Given the urgency of the matter, court has subsequently fixed the hearing of the substantive suit of Maroons tomorrow.John Isabirye, the Maroons lawyer, obtained the order on behalf of his clients while Fufa and group were not represented in court when the order was issued. “An interim order doth issue against the respondents, their agents, servants and or/any person claiming through them from organizing or conducting the top tier football league otherwise called the Uganda Premier League for 2014/15 seasons,” reads in part the order.

It continues: “…and any other related activities affecting the interests of the applicant pending the disposal of Miscellaneous application No. 44 of 2014 fixed for the 2 day of September 2014.”

About costs, court said they will abide in the main application though in the main suit, Maroons pray for punitive damages due to the alleged wanton conduct by Fufa that they say has embarrassed them in public.

According to court records that this newspaper has obtained, Maroons’s legal cause of action against Fufa and group was as a result of breaching a contract they had with them to play in the top flight football but instead excluded them under unclear circumstances.

Further in its complaint, Maroons state that in the football season of 2012/13, two parallel football leagues (Uganda Super League and the Fufa Super League - FSL) were created yet a deed of adherence was signed by them to play in the USL and indicating how clubs would be relegated to the lower league.

Fufa advice
To their shock, Fufa and group started engaging in talks to bring sanity into Ugandan football by way of merging the two parallel leagues and form one league - the UPL - but Maroons had been excluded.

The 2012/13 USL champions to that effect, on August 13 this year, wrote to Fufa president Magogo demanding to know why they had been excluded from the new season of Uganda Premier League without a lawful excuse since they were missing from the new match fixtures.

But in Fufa’s response dated August 25 to Maroons Tommy Ochen, they - through CEO Edgar Watson held that Maroons were ineligible to play in the UPL as they were not among the clubs that stayed in the top tier (not relegated) or those promoted from Fufa Big League (FBL) in the season of 2013/14.

Watson instead advised Maroons to register and participate in the FBL. When asked for comment, Fufa spokesperson Ahmed Hussein said “we have heard about the injunction but we cannot comment until we get official documentation to that.”