Khoza must have contingency plans

It looks likely that it will never be business as usual in football with Absa announcing this week that they will not be extending their partnership with the Premier Soccer League.

This means an end to the Absa Premiership as we had come to know it. And with the economic situation unstable in the country at the moment, it is a big worry. Finding a new sponsor will be a huge challenge under the current circumstances.

Before signing off, Absa pushed the bar a little higher when they increased the winner’s cheque from R10-million to R15-million. Now the new sponsor will have to match that or even go higher.

But with the situation as it is at present, it is going to be a little difficult. But Irvin Khoza has been in this situation before and while under his leadership, one is inclined to believe that this crisis will not have a negative impact on football. The fact that he recently managed to find GladAfrica to sponsor the National First Division says he has not lost his touch in terms of luring sponsors his way.

I have a reason to believe that the PSL leadership have known about Absa’s intentions to cut ties for quite a while now, so they surely have some contingency plan in place to prevent this having a big impact on the league.

Unless the relationship had soured so badly, Absa would have notified the PSL of their intentions at least a year earlier. I believe the negotiations for a renewal started long ago and it was not a surprise decision suddenly taken by Absa.

But my concern now is how we

Sibongiseni Gumbi

finish the current season. If my understanding is right, the agreement between the PSL and Absa ends at the end of June which is when the season officially ends. I am not privy to the details as yet, but if that is true and stands, Absa will make their last financial contribution at the end of this month.

But the way things stand, if this season – which was rudely disrupted by the outbreak of Covid-19 – is to be played to the end, then it may have to be without a sponsor.

That means the PSL will have to dig deep into their reserves to fund the resumption.

The R2.5-million monthly grant that teams get will have to come out of the PSL’s own pockets. They announced a large R1-billion windfall for their past financial year and that should enable them to cushion any blow they might take.

What I like is that when this is all over – which I hope will be soon enough – there will be renewed excitement when the new season starts as it will have new sponsors (hopefully) and a new name for our top flight football.

The rush to be the first team to have their name written on the new trophy will be interesting and exciting to watch. One just hopes that we will be over Covid-19 by then and will be allowed to physically participate in all the fun.

Wesley Bo on

While the move to level three lockdown regulations may have been celebrated by some sectors, the lift on restrictions seems to have created as much controversy as it has celebration in South African sport.

To be fair, the decision to allow professional athletes to return to full training (once federations get approval from government) will at least give teams the chance to start preparing properly for a return to action.

And, at least in theory, athletes in non-contact sports can return to competition.

But as has been highlighted by the national golf federation in recent weeks, without amateur sport to fund the sport industry, professional sport will remain largely on hold.

Without recreational golfers to fund the clubs and courses, the sport loses its foundation, and it is crumbling at its base. And it’s crumbling fast.

Similarly, allowing professional runners and cyclists to compete is one step forward, but it’s a long way off from level one, when our lives might return to something resembling normality.

It’s one thing to rope in a small group of elite athletes to run a race, but without the amateur masses, events are unlikely to garner the funding or support to provide a platform in the first place.

There should be no more doubt in our minds that the Covid-19 pandemic is a problem. Months into the national lockdown, we’ve become accustomed to face masks, hand sanitiser and social distancing, which have quickly become ubiquitous.

The trick, however, is to find a balance, and therein lies a significant dilemma.

No, we don’t want coronavirus to spread, but neither do we want millions of people to go hungry if they lose their income.

With golf clubs closing doors, the industry is collapsing, and unless they find a way to allow individuals to return to the fairways, the sport might take decades to recover.

It’s obviously important to ensure health and safety measures are in place, but it’s crucial that decision-makers meet sport officials somewhere in the middle, particularly in codes like golf and tennis which can be contested without close contact.

Stopping the spread of the pandemic remains a key focal point for all of us, but it’s also about saving an industry which contributes towards the economy, and about saving jobs before it’s too late.