The story behind the scenes

How it works with local players

There have been cases of local players not getting paid out by clubs, but unlike foreigners, their cases are dealt with by the PSL Dispute Resolution Chamber. In some cases where a club owes a local player and is unable to make a payment, the PSL then deducts a certain amount of money from the monthly grant to ensure that the player owed gets paid. Foreign players, meanwhile, don’t need to go to the PSL to have their matters heard. They can take it straight to FIFA.

“You can’t go to FIFA if you are a local player. They will send you back to the (PSL) DRC because the contract that we signed was designed by PSL and it says that if you are a local, then you should go to the DRC. Only international players can go straight to FIFA. If you are a local, then you have to go to the PSL and fight it off there. Once the DRC makes a ruling, it’s final. It can only be overturned by SAFA,” a source revealed.

“That’s why you find that clubs would rather settle an international player after FIFA has made a ruling than settle a local player. With a local player, they will still negotiate and find a way around it.”

Follow the Stellenbosch model?

According to a source contacted by this publication, Stellenbosch FC have found a way to manage their finances, which is why there have never been stories about them owing players that have left the club. The Winelands outfit is understood to have a salary bracket, and only a few players earn outside of it.

“It could work if we all follow the Stellenbosch model. The experienced players want salaries where they will be able to go buy nice things like BMW or big houses. When (Junior) Mendietta was at Stellenbosch, they had three or so players that they would pay what they call (an) out-of-bracket salary. I think Mendietta was being paid around R200 000, so he was the highest at Stellenbosch. The problem is that you can follow the Stellenbosch model, but it will not work for everyone,” the source noted.

“It works for them because they have very good facilities there. It’s easy for them to get players out of development into the first team. They have a way of targeting players from clubs that have been relegated and then offer them a decent salary, not the best salary. Stellenbosch can sell high, but buy very low and then they keep reproducing. Then they avoid all these things,” concluded the source.