Legacy Dominoes Club faces exclusion from youth league amid controversy

A Cape Flats youth dominoes team says it has been unfairly kicked out of the Universal Youth Dominoes League (UYDL) for the 2026 season, leaving young players without a league to play in this year.

Legacy Dominoes Club, made up of players from Eastridge, Mitchells Plain and Bonteheuwel, were disqualified from the league in 2025 after a league match ended in a fight.

Team captain Chadley September said that they were the top dogs and that tensions flared when an adult player from a rival team allegedly tried to confront one of Legacy’s youth players.

September said the team accepted the disqualification at the time and believed the matter was done.

A Cape Flats youth dominoes team says it has been unfairly kicked out of the Universal Youth Dominoes League (UYDL) for the 2026 season, leaving young players without a league to play in this year.

Legacy Dominoes Club, made up of players from Eastridge, Mitchells Plain and Bonteheuwel, were disqualified from the league in 2025 after a league match ended in a fight.

Team captain Chadley September said that they were the top dogs and that tensions flared when an adult player from a rival team allegedly tried to confront one of Legacy’s youth players.

September said the team accepted the disqualification at the time and believed the matter was done.

He said: “We took the punishment and tried to move forward, but when the new season started, we were told we can’t play at all.”

The captain said he attended a meeting with league officials and other teams on January 9 this year to apologise and believed the issue had been resolved.

He added: “My apology was accepted in the meeting, but later I was told we are still not allowed to register.”

He said the decision goes beyond the team’s leadership and directly affects the youth players as this gives them something to do and look forward to and also to prevent being drawn into gangsterism and drugs.

September said: “This is a youth league. These kids have potential and dominoes keeps them occupied. Now I must tell them they might not play at all this year.”

UYDL chairperson Adeba Gadien defended the decision, claiming Legacy had a history of misconduct and openly defied league rules. 

She said the league has an independent disciplinary committee and that a permanent ban was imposed on Legacy and another team from Manenberg.

However, WhatsApp messages and polls shared show that talks about the banned teams continued months after a ban letter dated November 3, 2025 – giving September, who said he did not receive a formal letter of the ban, only a message, and his team ‘hope that they would be reinstated’.

In January 2026, league members voted via WhatsApp on whether players from the banned teams could be absorbed into other teams.

Gadien confirmed that such an option was offered, but September insists she is lying.

He then alleged that the league sold domino sets to teams despite it being a donation from Bonteheuwel ward councillor Angus McKenzie two years ago.

In response, Gadien said: “Legacy only joined us in mid-2025, so I don’t know what gives him the right to make allegations.” 

McKenzie said: “That donation was made in good faith and with one purpose only: development and upliftment. I am deeply disappointed to hear of allegations that these donated dominoes may have been sold. Disputes of this nature do nothing to take our children off the streets. 

“They do nothing to uplift or empower them and... do nothing to grow and protect a community-based game like dominoes.”

Get your news on the go, click here to join the Cape Argus News WhatsApp channel.

Cape Argus