All braced for hot dogfights

Safa vow to avert match-fixing debacles

IT IS all systems go for the Eastern Cape SAB League provincial playoffs billed for tomorrow and Sunday in East London.

This was said by Safa EC secretary Isaac Klaas following what he called a “successful draw” that was conducted on Wednesday night.

The draw, made up of two groups, from which a club that tops each group will get automatically promoted to the provincial league.

Group A, undoubtedly the group of death, features regional champions from the dominant and controversial Safa regions - Buffalo City, Amathole, OR Tambo and Nelson Mandela Bay.

The clubs making up this group are Mdantsane Mighty Bucks, Walter Sisulu University, 2010 Storm Breakers and Callies FC.

Group B features the small regions with City Lads coming in for Alfred Nzo while Mighty Bucks will represent Joe Gqabi as Amavarara will be playing in the colours of Chris Hani and United 11 for Sarah Baartman.

This is probably the best draw of this annual competition yet as the small regions are guaranteed a spot in the second division with the four big guns having fight among themselves for the second spot vacant in the ABC Motsepe League for next season.

The dominance of the big four has been such that in the two previous SAB provincial playoffs, only NMB; Buffalo City and OR Tambo have benefited by having their teams promoted.

And this dominance was further strengthened by all four promoted managing to cling on to their ABC Motsepe League statuses to this day which in turn makes the second division mainly a Buffalo City and NMB monopoly.

Klaas said: “I was happy with the draw because there was 100% attendance by all clubs involved and their respective regional leaders.

“What was more impressive is that everyone committed to fair, incident-free and successful playoffs.”

The playoffs are notorious for controversial results that are usually followed by match-fixing claims.

Central to this has been complaints about some clubs who reinforce their squads with illegitimate players.

According to Klaas, there were strict measures in place to address this problem.

“The master-list of registered players for each club, as submitted by all regions, is with the provincial office so no club will suddenly field a player who does not appear as registered in those files.”

In the opening match tomorrow at 1pm, Callies take on Mdantsane Mighty Bucks in what is expected to be an emotional encounter given the traditional rivalry existing between NMB and Buffalo City. Other matches: Tomorrow: Mighty Bucks v United 11 (3pm), WSU v 2010 Storm Breakers (1pm) and Amavarara v City Lads (3pm)

Sunday: Mdantsane Mighty Bucks v WSU and 2010 Storm Breakers v Callies (9am), City Lads v Mighty Bucks and United 11 v Amavarara (11am), WSU v Callies and 2010 Storm Breakers v Mdantsane Mighty Bucks (1pm), City Lads v United 11 and Amavarara v Mighty Bucks (3pm). —