PSL & Safa needs a dialogue

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many ills in our society that we knew existed but never really imagined the extent or depth of. From the poor healthcare system which is proving to be inadequate in terms of dealing with the number of people admitted to hospitals; poor education facilities which left many parents removing their children from schools for this calendar year and the socio-economic problems which unfortunately resulted in a loss of income for many people, as well as the rebirth of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Whoever said, “only when the tide goes out do you discover who has been swimming naked”, hit the nail on the head.

All these problems have always been there, but when the COVID-19 tide hit us hard, it exposed every aspect of our social problems, all of which have been laid bare for all to see.

From the South African football point view, it has exposed the extent of the poor relationship between the mother body Safa and the PSL.

Since the PSL was launched in 1996/97 season, there has always been problems between the two and the disagreements regarding the release of players to the national teams is just one of the many.

But the recent miscommunication and indecisiveness, which resulted in the league not resuming despite all safety measures having been put in place, left many South Africans fuming.

From both ends, there was very little communication with the public until the last week of June and journalists were left to speculate, and fans to wonder in frustration.

In the right corner, led by Dr. Danny Jordaan, wearing gold, black and white shorts from Nasrec – Safa wanted to prove for all to see that they were in charge of all football matters in the country and nothing would be done if they didn’t give a go ahead.

They went as far as saying, all the match officials would not be ready to resume officiating matches if the league re-starts before the start of August.

In the left corner, led by Dr. Irvin Khoza – wearing blue, green, red, and black shorts from

Parktown – the PSL put its foot downd and d went t ahead and spoke of the fixtures despite the dates not being announced by SAFA.

Instead of sitting either face-to-face or virtually to get to the bottom of the problems and come up with a solution; both Safa and PSL were flexing their muscles and at the end of the day the public had to pay the price.

This is not about who is right or who is wrong, or who is in charge of South African football; this is about Safa and PSL establishing better communication channels in order to sort out any problems they encounter.

Both the association and the League are very important and need to work hand-in-hand.

Every problem in the world, whether it’s a world war or differences between two people, starts with bad communication and can only be resolved with good dialogue. It is very clear that Safa and PSL have communication problems and until they sit down and try to iron things out, these problems will not miraculously disappear.

Other leagues around the world are almost finished with the season and players will have enough time to rest ahead of the new campaign.

But from this part of the world, we will have to cross our fingers and hope the league will be done and dusted come end of August.