the annual lists for the seasons commencing August 2007, August 2008 and August 2009 together with all
weekly lists produced for those seasons as well as being the coauthor of the annual list for the season
commencing August 2010 as well as all the weekly lists thereunder. According to Prof Schloss further, the
authors of the lists from August 2007 to the season commencing August 2009 were Messrs Dan Leboa and
Ace Ngcobo who, as indicated above, are South African citizens and employees of the plaintiff. According to
Prof Schloss, Ace Ngcobo regularly needed more supervision and guidance by him as he was not as
experienced as Dan Leboa.
[31] Prof Schloss identified the annual lists compiled and published under his supervision for the seasons August
2007, August 2008 and August 2009.1 He also identified to this Court the annual list for the season August
2010 of which he was a coauthor.2 The weekly lists he identified appear in Exhibit "E" at pages 79197.
[32] Mr Blanckensee identified an extract from the annual list for the season August 2010 to May 2011 of which he
was a coauthor3 as well as a weekly list for that period.4 He also identified an extract from the annual list
for the season August 20135 as well as a weekly list for that period.6
[33] Both testified to the manner in which the fixture lists were prepared: It went like this: Since the season
commencing August 2007, a computer programme had been used in the preparation of the fixture lists. Mr
Blanckensee was the writer of this programme. It was called "Fixtures". It was one of the three programmes
he created comprising a suite called "soccer software". These programmes were used or utilised at plaintiff.
As Mr Blanckensee pointed out, although he was not employed by the plaintiff prior to November 2010, he
was nevertheless called in by the plaintiff now and then since at least August 2007 to assist those preparing
the fixture lists with the use of his "fixtures" programme. Consequently, so testified Mr Blanckensee, even
though he did not himself compile the fixture lists during that period, he nevertheless knew what the
compilers were doing as they used his brain child.
[34] Before "fixtures" came into use the fixture lists were prepared differently according to these two witnesses:
Mr Blanckensee stated that they were done on "bits of paper". According to Prof Schloss "a large piece of
paper" was utilised to prepare the fixtures on, in addition to a computer programme. The advent of "fixtures"
only served to streamline the process. The programme was aimed at aiding in the presentation of the fixture
lists and to enable corrections to be done more easily to the fixtures comprising it. It did not itself produce
fixture lists by imputing data. It was used as a tool to assist in the task of presenting the lists. This process
was
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repeated or done each football year. During the 2012/2013 season, Mr Blanckensee wrote a document titled
"fixture planning process" to further facilitate the process.
[35] Prof Schloss confirmed that the process contained in the "fixture planning process 20122013" was in general
the process which was followed prior to Mr Blanckensee's arrival at plaintiff. He indicated that although no
public draws were conducted during those previous years, the principle detailed in the "fixture planning
process 20122013" document was followed and that some computer programming process similar to Mr
Blanckensee's software was also used.
[36] These two witnesses' testimony corroborated each other in all respects.
[37] Mr Blanckensee expatiated on the "fixture planning process" 20122013 as entailing the following:
37.1
An overall process consist of three distinct stages: first, an overall schedule containing fixture block
dates; second, a refinement of the block dates through an extensive consultation process; and third,
a random draw and the application of the "fixtures" software to produce an annual list.
37.2
In the first stage, according Mr Blanckensee, a white board7 was used. According to Prof Schloss
during his times previously no white boards were used; however, the same information as that
appearing in the white boards was presented on pieces of paper stapled together to form one big
piece.
37.3
What both witnesses agreed on is that the first step was aimed at blocking out certain dates on
which fixtures could not be played, such as FIFAsanctioned match dates, CAF match dates and
certain public holidays like Christmas Day for example. Thereafter certain Cup competition dates like
the MTN 8, Telkom Knockout, Nedbank Cup and all their qualifiers had to be blocked out. Mostly the
Cup competitions and their qualifiers required a number of weekends as well as midweek fixtures.
37.4
At the end of the above process the remaining fixture dates would be used to schedule Absa
Premiership games.
37.5
These fixture weekends are called "blocks" and normally 30 are required for the Absa Premiership.
37.6
This case revolves around the Absa Premier League fixtures.
37.7
The "fixtures" programme was used to mechanically allocate thirty (30) blocks of fixtures one after
the other with no consideration for anything.
37.8
The fixture blocks arrived at by the process this far are then converted into spreadsheets for
purposes of the consultation process, using the Excel computer programme. Such consultation
process entails a toandfrom interaction with the South African Football Association ("SAFA") (soccer
controlling body in South Africa),
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