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Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM) has strongly rejected suggestions that a statement from the club congratulating rivals Black Leopards after they lost to them last weekend had a hint of match-fixing.
TTM, Leopards and Ajax CT are currently fighting in the promotion and relegation play-offs to earn the right to play in the topflight next season.
On Saturday they were beaten 3-1 by Leopards, but TTM surprised when they issued a statement congratulating their conquerors Lidoda Duvha on the crucial three points that took them to the top of the play-off standings.
“Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila Football Club would like to congratulate Black Leopards Football Club on their victory today. If you can’t beat them, join them. You are almost back in the PSL League. I wish you the best in your remaining games, ”reads TTM’s letter after losing to Leopards.
When asked about the unusual letter that has since been removed from the club’s official Twitter account, TTM public relations officer Tshidino Ndou Ndou said it had nothing to do with match-fixing. He argued that it was a friendly joke between TTM and Ajax Cape Town.
“If we go back to how Ajax CT has been making fun of us etc, it is time for revenge and it has nothing to do with match-fixing. When Ajax beat us in this play-off, it wasn’t match-fixing, but when Black Leopards beat us, match-fixing?
“The leopards beat Ajax, is that also the match fixing or did Ajax sell the game to the leopards?” Ndou asked.
Ndou said they couldn’t have given Leopards the points on a silver platter because they also want to be promoted to PSL.
“Are people aware that if we beat Ajax (on Tuesday), we have a chance of getting a promotion? This means we will have to rely on Ajax to beat the Leopards, and then we must beat the Leopards in our last game to have a chance of promotion to PSL.
“You can post a statement, you can tweet, you can write on your website, those are all just media or platforms that people use to send messages to the outside world.
“The coaches will congratulate the other team when they have lost and that is a statement. If a coach says so, it is official, then on behalf of the club he admits that he was defeated by the opposition on the field.
“People think about this without considering other games, they just focus on one game because they expect certain results. We couldn’t beat the Leopards, why was it difficult for Ajax to beat the Leopards?
“We wanted to get a direct promotion by beating Ajax, but we didn’t get it in the league. Now Ajax wanted to trust us to beat Swallows and advance quickly to the play-offs. Ajax wanted to trust us to beat Leopards.
“Why can’t they beat Leopards? They were seven points ahead before the lockout and we all know what happened. Is it because of TTM?”
“If he comes back, Ajax taunted us about selling Bidvest Wits and we taunted him back. When we do, we did better than them and they blocked us. This is just a joke between the clubs and has been around since last season.
“People quickly forget because they want to extract whatever information they want to believe and then make a fuss about it.
“When Ajax started we joined, we have no personal problems against Ajax as a club. What they do is make fun of us and we make fun of them, we go to the field and we do not break their legs. We play fair.”
“We withdrew the letter because our supporters expressed concern and our supporters are part of the club. It was our own review, but we still want to say what we said in the letter.”
PSL spokesperson Lux September declined to comment on the matter and his Safa counterpart Dominic Chimhavi could not be reached on his mobile phone.
