According to the Namibia Premier League (NPL), the match was supposed to have taken place last night at the Khomasdal Stadium, but it was cancelled after the Namibia Football Association intervened earlier yesterday.

NFA secretary general Barry Rukoro and NPL officials held a meeting yesterday morning to find a solution to the issue, and agreed that Stars be given a chance to have their case heard by an arbitration board.

NPL's chairman of the management committee, Moses Ikanga, yesterday wrote to the media, stating that the scheduled match between the two teams had been postponed at the request of the NFA.

He said this was because African Stars had declared a dispute and subsequently requested the association to set up an arbitration board.

"We humbly apologise for any inconvenience caused due to these arrangements," Ikanga said in the statement.

African Stars had earlier submitted a protest against a decision taken by the NPL Board of Governors that Black Africa was not found guilty of misconduct.

The misconduct case made by the NPL against Black Africa stems from a complaint by BA's technical committee, who claimed that referee Matthew Katjimune was unfit to handle their first-round fixture against Stars, as he was under the influence of alcohol.

This allegation was proven false, though, and the NPL subsequently also dropped the misconduct charge against Black Africa and decided that the called-off match must be rescheduled.

Stars protested the decision by the BoG to reschedule the match, which they claimed was contrary to the rules of the league.

Their protest was never given the light of day as the NPL insisted that the match be rescheduled and had May 21 as the date for it to be played.

Stars then requested the NFA to intervene and their request yesterday culminated in the decision to set up an arbitration board.

Stars' earlier request for NFA intervention was referred back to the NPL's earlier decision, but after Stars threatened to seek a court interdict late on Tuesday, the NFA decided to avert the move.

No date has been set for the matter to be heard by the arbitration board.

Black Africa and Stars still have to play their second-round match and the fixture for that has not been determined yet.

Some teams have only four matches to play before the league closes, while the MTC Cup is currently in its semi-final stages.

The league is expected to end on June 21 after the NPL issued revised fixtures.

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