Dismay as ABC games postponed
Player registration card problems and waterlogged fields disrupt season start
SOME ABC Motsepe League soccer clubs were dealt a blow at the weekend as their opening matches had to be postponed because they had not yet received all their player registration cards.
Along with the card issue, waterlogged fields were also a problem.
The league was initially meant to kick off on September 8 but was postponed due to an initial delay in the printing of player cards.
On Friday evening, Safa provincial secretary Isaac Klaas e-mailed the clubs saying that no postponement of games would be allowed even though clubs were still battling to register players.
Only five of the eight matches that were meant to be played at the weekend took place.
Klaas said Safa were not to blame for clubs not receiving their player cards on time and that all affected teams should raise their concerns with his office.
Alfred Nzo side Spears were meant to play Lion City at the NU2 Motherwell Stadium on Friday, but club owner Bonakele Duzane said the game did not take place because their opponents were not in possession of player cards.
“Lion City players came with ID books and not player cards as they had not yet received their cards from Safa.
“According to the Safa rules, players cannot be allowed to play without player cards, so the game had to the postponed.”
Swartkops Valley United Brothers boss Luzuko Zondoni said: “Our game against Bees did not take place due to both unfavourable playing conditions and because we did not receive all our player cards. We only received three temporary cards.
“We had submitted everything to Safa on time but we have not yet received all our player cards.
“I went to the Safa office this morning to get some clarity on the issue and it was explained to me that the problem was that some of our players were still registered to their old clubs.
“The new registration system called MySafa Verification Program had picked that up. So, now we need to get clearance for those players from their old teams.”
Meanwhile, Future Tigers team manager Thembinkosi Simanga said their game against Sibanye was postponed due to a waterlogged field.
Sibanye’s chief executive Brandon Bosman was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Klaas said the problem lay with fraudulent player movement. He said when the ABC Motsepe League season ends some of the players play in lower leagues to help their teams gain promotion or finish in a better position.
But then they forget that they have to clear themselves once the new season opens.
“I will not deny that, yes, during the registration not all player cards came back in all teams, but that is an issue that we are addressing.
“We had told all clubs that we have a new system called MySafa that is linked from Local Football Association leagues to this level.
“When the season ends, some players move from the team and play for LFAs. Now when they register for ABC the system blocks them because they are already loaded.
“Now they want to blame the office when they don’t get their cards because of players’ movements that they were not able to control. That is one of the reasons why teams were not able to get their player cards.”
“Teams must go back to those clubs that the players were registered in fraudulently to get their clearances so they are deregistered from the system, otherwise you will not be able to register them,” he said.
The results from the weekend were: Bhizana Pondo 2 Butterworth 3, PE Stars 6 Try Again 1, City Lads 2 Tornado 4, Buffalo 1 Mthatha 5, Highbury 4 Matta Milan 4