Businessman Charles Nkuliza Kakooza, alias KNC, on January 27, dropped a bombshell when he told the press that he is disbanding his club, Gasogi United, with immediate effect after just five years participating in top flight football. KNC also informed the Rwanda FA and the Rwanda Premier League Board his intention to withdraw his club from all football competitions, including topflight division, second division and junior, as a result of what he referred to as ‘corrupt refereeing’ that his club has on various occasions encountered. By taking the decision that local football governing body (FERWAFA) Secretary-General Adolphe Kalisa said that it is important that the proper procedures are followed and professional advice is obtained at an early stage of the process. Otherwise, the club could risk facing legal actions and ban among other stringent measures. Dissolving a club results in losing FA membership. READ ALSO: KNC 'disbands' Gasogi United What does a club need to do to withdraw FA membership? Kalisa said that you can’t just wake up and withdraw your team from all competitions. There are terms and conditions to follow. To withdraw membership from FERWAFA, the first thing a club does is to write to the federation and request to withdraw its membership but that doesn't guarantee them to leave immediately. If one of the members wants to get out of competitions because the club is getting disbanded, they write a letter to Ferwafa and explain why they are disbanding the club, Kalisa explained. And this is not what KNC did in the first place. Instead, Kalisa claimed that the businessman’s letter is confusing because did not request to dissolve his team. He just informed the FA his decision which, he says, shouldn’t be the case. “He should be specifically writing to the FA requesting to withdraw from all competitions,” Kalisa said. Assessing club withdrawal After requesting to withdraw from all competitions, the federation’s executive committee and the Rwanda Premier League assess the request then present it to the General Assembly for members of the FA to approve or reject the member’s request. READ ALSO: KNC blames poor coordination for Gasogi Peace Cup withdrawal The decision is taken by the general assembly and the request can be approved or not depending on the reasons provided in the letter, Kalisa told Times Sport. The decision may be taken in reference to articles 61, 62, 63 and 64 in the Ferwafa book of rules and regulations. This means that Gasogi United will wait until the FERWAFA General Assembly takes place. Hefty charges In the meantime, Kalisa said that the club must carry on and take part in all competitions. Should KNC stand on his decision to disband the club without FA and stakeholders’ approval, the club could be handed a five-year ban from all football activities and fines. You need to compete in all competitions and participate in all activities of the federation until the decision is taken. Failure to show up in competitions results in forfeit and, if the team misses three games, it gets banned for five years,” Kalisa warned. According to Kalisa, the FA is looking at how the ban could increase to 20 years to discourage similar threats in the future. “You can't wake up in one morning, start the team and join the federation and the other days you return and say that you’re withdrawing it from competitions. We can't work like that, we are working on imposing hefty sanctions for any club which create such a saga, he noted Before approving club’s membership withdrawal, Ferwafa first finds out if the club doesn’t owe anything to the employees or if it doesn't have any debts from the federation, CAF or FIFA What if a club wants to return to football competitions? Should Gasogi United be given all-clear to withdraw from all football competitions, it will not be easy for the club to return. According to Kalisa, the club will wait for at least five years to request to resume football activities under FERWAFA. It is important that clubs know what it takes to become a member of the federation and how to withdraw their membership. So we will look at the feasibility then we will see what to do, he said. Records indicate that 12 teams are now no-more in the league in the last 30 years. They include Rwanda FC (1999), Simba FC (2000), Les Citadins (2001), Umutara FC (2002), Léopards (2004), Mukungwa 408 (2005), Umurabyo (2007), KIST (2008), Military FC (2008), Electrogaz (2009), Kibuye FC (2010) and ATRACO (2011). For a fact, not a single team that once featured in Rwanda Premier League went defunct and returned to the league.
