Promotion/relegation formula needs rethink
PSL officials and their marketing agents may well look to claim that they have successfully staged another competitive season because the title race, top-eight scramble and relegation dogfight were all only decided in the closing stage of the 30-match campaign.
They may also reckon that the very suitable level of unpredictability in their Absabacked top flight is proven by there being new winners of the championship and that two of the oldest clubs in the country had to fight for their lives at the other end of the 16-team standings until the last day.
But, aside from the issue of high competition not necessary amounting to a grand quality of football itself, like in a cock fight, there remain a number of important issues that PSL supremo, Irvin Khoza, and his self-congratulating officials should have dealt with by now.
Responsibility
In this touchy mix are the relegation/promotion formula that affects the money-spinning Premiership and unsponsored National First Division, the creation of proper youth development structures as part of club licensing, the size of the top flight, and the charity/corporate social responsibility element of PSL business.
Former PSL chief executive, Trevor “British Bulldog” Phillips, once famously quipped that asking clubs to trim the size of the league to help improve the level of football was like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas.
The answer may have been yes in 2002 when the league was reduced to 16 teams to avoid fixture congestion, with Ria Stars and Free State Stars accepting compensation for dropping out back then, but there still appears room to go down to 14 not only because of the actual football level, but also due to so many clubs still struggling for decent sponsorships in an economy that could be better.
This self-protection on the part of top-flight clubs is probably also to blame for the fact that only one team from the Premiership is automatically demoted and only the winners of the First Division are guaranteed promotion while two others have to go to play-offs.
Why should the second-last club in the Premiership have a second chance to avoid relegation in the play-offs?
Why couldn’t there be a return to the old, straightforward format of two up, two down? Or even better, why not have the third-last team in the Premiership face a play-off against the third-placed side in the First Division, if there is not going to be an overdue attempt to reduce the Premiership to 14 clubs?
Some might argue that a system of two up, two down might have been bad for KwaZulu-Natal football if implemented already in light of the constant relegation battles around these shores, but it might also have made our clubs sharper in their dealings, especially player recruitment.
Of course, getting clubs to establish proper youth structures instead of them trying to bank as much as they can from their high television revenues would also raise the level of football, in tandem with the workings of the SA Football Association’s “Technical Master Plan” and “Vision 2022” designed to lift the country into the top 20 of world football.
Finally, the popular, pre-season Charity Cup was shelved in 2011 and before fans could say “what’s going on here?”, there was a new competition that only involved Chiefs and Pirates and “excited” people by allowing them to vote for the players they wanted to see in that exhibition game.
Khoza and company said at the time that the PSL would explore a new form of charity event. Where is it?
It goes without saying that our football, like the country in general, won’t go forward should a climate of self-interest continue unabated.