PSL Records
We crunch the numbers on various PSL records since the competition started in the 1996-97 season.
Record keeping hhas nott bbeen one of f South African football’s strong points but a new technological era means statistics are now plentiful. The National Professional Soccer League, formed 50 years ago next month, is the effective forerunner of today’s Premier Soccer League. The NPSL absorbed the white-only National Football League in 1978, saw clubs rebel to form the National Soccer League in 1985, took in six clubs from Federation Professional League in 1991 as part of the postApartheid unity process and then became the PSL in 1996. Line-ups for matches in the NPSL years from 1971 to 1984 were never collated, not by the league itself, but nor by journalist and statisticians of the day. It left a huge void and a generation without the proper recognition. We don’t know to this day how many times Jomo Sono or Ace Ntsoelengoe played, for example. But we do have solid records since the NSL was launched in 1985 – held by KICK OFF – and even more thorough stats in the PSL era where the league now offers a variety of statistical data. More and more clubs are beginning to celebrate landmarks and pay tribute to achievers in the ranks. It is a relatively new … and welcome … phenomenon. KICK OFF’s Mark Gleeson joins in the spirit this month to offer a potted selection of some of South African professional football’s records.