The FIVE teams hurt most by Royal AM's expulsion

1 Views

The Premier Soccer League’s Board of Governors has decided to back the recommendation by the league’s executive committee to cancel Royal AM’s membership with immediate effect.

For the latest soccer news, bookmark The South African website’s dedicated section for free-to-read content

Representatives of all 31 professional teams – minus the affected Royal AM – gathered at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg on Thursday morning to deliberate the merits of the case.�

The Exco, led by chairman Irvin Khoza, had proposed that Thwihli Thwahla be expelled after failing to honour their domestic fixtures at the start of the year that left the league with no choice but to suspend them indefinitely.�

What does this mean for the Betway Premiership?

With the KwaZulu-Natal outfit having only played 11 matches in the Betway Premiership this season, it now means all points gained by teams against Royal AM have been rendered null and void.

Furthermore, there will be no automatic relegation this season.

As is always the case, the team that finishes 15th – and effectively last – will go to the playoffs to determine their survival – or relegation.

All teams will thus play 28 matches this season.

Naturally, the ruling comes as a blow to those teams which did play Royal AM this season, especially those who pick up wins against Shauwn ‘MaMkhize’ Mkhize’s side.

A look at the standings shows that Royal AM played 11 matches, won one, lost five and drew five.

Let’s start with the one team they did manage to beat, Sekhukhune United. They won’t be affected by Thursday’s ruling.

The five teams that drew against Royal AM will all lose one point. They are: Cape Town City FC, SuperSport United, Richards Bay, Magesi FC and Kaizer Chiefs.

The five teams who beat Royal AM will be hardest hit by a reduction of three points from their current points total.

Those sides are Mamelodi Sundowns, Polokwane City, Golden Arrows, AmaZulu and TS Galaxy.

The four teams that didn’t play Royal AM this season and are therefore unaffected by the ruling are Orlando Pirates, Stellenbosch FC, Chippa United and Marumo Gallants.

The big news, of course, is that Mamelodi Sundowns’ lead atop the standings has now been cut to just ninepoints from Orlando Pirates – who have played two fewer matches.