Ineligibility takes the Shield's spotlight, again
On Friday, March 17 the Varsity Cup Internal Disciplinary Committee held a hearing for CPUT. The university pled guilty to the charges that they had fielded five ineligible players in four of their five matches this season.
CPUT fielded players whose results from deferred exams of 2016 would only be released in March 2017.
They ran the risk that these players would possibly not receive the 60 credits needed to participate with eligibility. In addition, the university fielded two players who were not even registered for 60 credits and thus could not be eligible regardless of examination results.
"It is very disappointing to have another one of the new universities in the competition transgressing the rules," said Varsity Cup CEO Duister Bosman.
"We have no choice but to be firm on our Memorandum of Incorporation’s by-laws and instil a culture of respect for the agreed rules," he added.
Consequently, CPUT has been deducted 11 points and their hopes of reaching the semifinals are zero.
CPUT lose the one log point earned against UWC in the opening match of the Shield.
Furthermore, CPUT's winning results against Rhodes, UKZN-Impi and WSU are overturned to 0-32 defeats, which equates to bonus-point victories to the oppositions, respectively.
