Legal battle looming as date is set for Leopards’ appeal over FKF sanctions following ‘Ingo’ derby chaos

A legal battle is in the offing after AFC Leopards appealed the heavy punishment handed to them by the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) following their abandoned league clash against Kakamega Homeboyz last Sunday.

The FKF Leagues and Competitions Committee docked Leopards three points while awarding Homeboyz the abandoned match and ordered the club to pay a Ksh500,000 fine besides catering for medical costs incurred by centre referee Michael Obuya, who was beaten by irate fans, at Bukhungu Stadium.

Ingwe were also ordered to play their next four league matches behind closed doors while the FKF Disciplinary Committee will open proceedings into the conduct of the club’s coach Patrick Aussems and his assistant Lawrence Webo.

Leopards, however, felt the decision was unfair, accusing the disciplinary committee of not looking at both sides while blaming Homeboyz for not providing enough security and promised to explore all legal avenues.

“We shall exhaust each and every legal channel that is available to us to make sure that justice is served,” Leopards chairman Dan Shikanda said on Thursday.

It has now emerged that the club has indeed appealed the decision and a hearing is set to take place at the Sports Disputes Tribunal on April 25.

“We play KCB FC at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani on Sunday (23/4/2023). The match will be played behind closed doors as we wait for our appeal hearing at the SDT on 25/4/2023,” the club said via a Twitter post on Saturday, all but confirming that the appeal was filed.

Sunday’s match was abandoned in the 34th minute when irate Ingwe fans stormed the pitch and beat up the referee, accusing him of not sending off Homeboyz goalkeeper Farouk Shikalo after he allegedly handled the ball outside the box.

The ugly incident would degenerate into stone throwing and insults from both sets of supporters, forcing police officers to lob teargas with the match abandoned when the home side were leading 1-0 courtesy of Hillary Otieno’s 24th minute goal.