Call time on NFD season, says Swallows boss
Moroka Swallows owner David Mogashoa says the suspended National First Division season must be declared null and void as most sides in the second-tier of SA football are not likely to afford the costs required to house the clubs in the Premier Soccer League’s biologically safe environment.
GladAfrica Championship 18 clubs each receive a R500,000 monthly grant from the PSL, an amount Mogashoa said was not enough as the “bio-bubble” cost of more than R1m a side could be out of reach for most teams.
“If the PSL and Safa do not agree on the date of resumption, then the cancellation of the season is going to be an option,” Mogashoa, whose team are second behind Ajax Cape Town, seven points adrift with six rounds of games to go, said.
The Birds boss said the suggestion to cancel the NFD season was not his original idea.
“It was put out by [Cape Town City boss] John Comitis [and] I think it might make sense,” he said.
“But the very same suggestion may not make sense for teams at number 3, 4, 5 who may feel they can even beat Ajax on promotion.
“So that’s where you’re going to have problems, because these guys may feel that they also stand a chance.
But then the cost of going into this bubble, it’s becoming too much.
“If we are going into the bubble it’s going to cost about R1.3m at the minimum — a bill the teams must foot.
“Some people may argue that we’re still in any case have to pay for our away games.
“Our games [six rounds of fixtures] would have cost maybe about R500,000 to complete, not R1.3m, so that bubble is becoming a problem.”
Swallows, Mogashoa added, preferred to go with Comitis’s suggestion.
“We prefer to fight for straight promotion unless the PSL is happy to extend the teams to 18 teams next season.
“But we’re not going to support anything that says other teams must sit and watch, and then Ajax must go to the Premiership,” he said.
“The only option if the league cannot continue is that the league must just cancel; no-one gets anything.”
The league’s board is expected to finalise the matter this week.
Cancellation of the season is going to be an option