By Julu M. Johnson, Jr.

Clubs boycotting this year’s national league of the Liberia Football Association (LFA) lost their quest to bring the festival to a halt in court.

A court hearing was expected to take place on August 14, 2008, after a preliminary injunction barred the LFA from “carrying out further activities.”

The clubs lost on Tuesday when the court dropped the injunction against the LFA to put a halt to the ongoing national league.

The clubs that took the matter to court on Monday, August 4, 2008 were led by LPRC Oilers, Watanga, NPA Anchors and LISCR FC. The rest include Devereux, Rangers FC, Exodus, 72nd FC, Jasmine Rangers and Small Town International.
Despite the action by the clubs to boycott the national league because they wanted the event to take place in mid October so as to escape the rainy season and to increase the prizes for winners, the LFA still chose to go ahead with the number of teams available.

The LFA’s decision to run the league and failure to bow the clubs’ demands prompted the aggrieved parties clubs to file a notice of Preliminary Injunction on before his Honour Yussif D. Kaba, assigned Circuit Judge.

The court decided to drop the case on grounds that it was a sports matter that needed not to be handled at the Temple of Justice.

Following the ruling on Tuesday, legal practitioners in the sporting arena argued that the aggrieved clubs should not have gone to court in that the LFA has an Arbitration Committee to discuss disputes from parties in soccer.

They declared: “According to the LFA statutes, the Grievance Committee listens to grievances from parties. Decisions from the two bodies are apealable before the Appeal Board.

“The Appeal Board of the LFA listens to all matters arising from the Grievance and Arbitration Committees.

“Aside from the LFA rules, the clubs should have had the Liberia National Olympic Committee (LNOC) involved through its Arbitration Committee.

“If that process is not satisfactory, you can appeal to FIFA and if FIFA’s decision is not satisfactory, then the last resort is the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Lausane, Switzerland.

“A party appealing may not necessarily be represented in person at the CAS. The head of court may appoint a sole arbitrator to represent the party’s interest.

“As FIFA, the world soccer governing body, bars matters from going outside the sporting arena, the clubs should have exhausted all of the local remedies. Instead, they have not shown a situation wherein their issue can be handled by the Grievance and Arbitration Committees. They have missed the trend.”

A spokesman for the aggrieved clubs, Andy Quamie, has been calling for a full sponsorship of the league, attractive financial rewards and conducive playing venues.

Quamie of Watanga FC said, "We also want a rescheduling of the league to October, the start of the dry season, as the heavy rains this time of the year have a great impact on the wear and tear of our playing equipment."

Quamie: "We can't imagine the LFA is pushing us to play at venues with no security at all. The fans have access to the players and match officials and the playing field. This is an unsafe environment for our players.”

Despite the claims by the clubs, the LFA says through its Secretary-General, George Wah Williams, that the teams are being insensitive with their demands.

"The LFA is looking into improving the league through sponsorship but with the teams bickering, it would be difficult to attract such a deal," Mr. Williams said.

"They must understand the overall economic and infrastructural challenges we are facing, and be realistic in their demands."

The LFA has revealed that it is in talks with a Ghana based firm Avantis over a US$160,000 sponsorship deal for the league

It is not known where now the aggrieved clubs would take their protest after being slapped in the face by the court in Monrovia.