Vipers SC says they will appeal a ruling by FUFA that awarded Kitara a forfeiture victory following the club’s absence from their scheduled Uganda Premier League fixture on October 4 at Mandela National Stadium.
The Venoms did not turn up for the match as part of a protest against the league’s proposed new competition format — reforms that were later scrapped.
Last week, FUFA determined that Vipers breached Article 16 of the FUFA Ethics and Disciplinary Code and declared the match lost by forfeiture.
Speaking on NBS Sport, Vipers legal director Alex Luganda said the club would first pursue all available domestic remedies before considering international arbitration.
“We are to exhaust the local remedies, and if no solution, we shall run to FIFA or to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne,” Luganda said.
“We only pray and hope that we can get a solution at the local level because we wouldn’t want to escalate this matter, but if the worst comes to the worst we will do it for purposes of ensuring that the integrity of the game is upheld.”
He emphasized that the dispute goes beyond the three points at stake.
“For us it’s not the three points alone; it’s about respect for the rules of the game and avoiding the use of regulations to settle scores,” he added. “This particular decision looks like a leftover of the dispute that was there around October between the clubs and the Federation.”
Luganda argued that FUFA’s decision to abandon the contested league format validated Vipers’ earlier concerns.
He also claimed the club was not notified of any disciplinary referral or hearing before the ruling was issued.
“We have never been notified that the matter was referred to the judicial bodies of the Federation,” he said. “We communicated several times and the Federation hasn’t responded to us. We just received judgement — we don’t know who the actual complainant is.”
Prior to the ruling, Vipers had written to FUFA urging that no forfeiture or walkover be imposed and insisting that league points should be decided on the pitch.
