Secret Footballer
This month’s Secret Footballer believes that the shenanigans that brought embarrassment to the PSL at the end of the NFD season should have been avoided.
“IS THIS THE WAY THAT WE WANT OUR FOOTBALL TO RUN?”
Sekhukhune United were promoted to the DStv Premiership after winning a court ruling that went against the PSL. But a few days later their joy was short-lived when this season’s Promotion/Relegation Play-offs were temporarily postponed after Justice Nyathi of the Supreme Court ordered the matches be halted. This was an embarrassment to the League following a long and protracted boardroom squabble, something that our Secret Footballer – a former National First Division player – thinks could have been avoided.
What went on with Sekhukhune United and Royal AM, and the subsequent court order that the Play-offs must be postponed until further notice, is a huge indictment on football administrators in this country.
The National First Division spent a very long time without a sponsor and after acquiring such a lucrative benefactor in GladAfrica, this happens. Is this how we are thanking those that invest in our game?
Everyone involved with the running of football in this country needs to take a close look at themselves and ask: is this how we want to go forward? Because the NFD doesn’t deserve this.
We never see this happening at the highest level in the DStv Premiership, only in the lower league. It’s very important that football is protected.
As someone who has played in the top division and the NFD, I can tell you that it’s very, very painful to learn about these events. In my opinion, the NFD is not taken seriously.
It’s not looked at in the same way as the Premiership by the executive, but rather the NFD is treated like an afterthought.
Separate management
If needs be, then maybe we consider having a separate management within the PSL that deals with the affairs of the GladAfrica Championship. Maybe it’s too much for the National Soccer League to combine both the Premiership and the GladAfrica Championship.
Maybe they need to establish a GladAfrica
Championship executive, even if it has to report to the NSL. We need people who will understand what it’s like to run and manage NFD clubs. I don’t think some of the people in the PSL executive really understand what is going on there.
If the GladAfrica can have their own management then things will be done quickly and smoothly, and we might avoid some of the rising number of court rulings. We cannot be finding ourselves in this mess. No matter what happens at the end of this saga, football is the loser.
Some people are saying it would have been better if the issue between Polokwane
City and Sekhukhune United was handled when it came up at the beginning of the year. But again, it is not that simple because there are lots of grey areas in PSL Handbook.
We are now seeing lots of court cases and that should be discouraged. Football should not be played out in the boardroom, that sets a very dangerous precedent because for any case, no matter how small, clubs will run to the courts and football can be stopped or suspended.
The South African football fraternity needs to come together and ask themselves: is this the way that we want our football to be run? We are a sporting nation and believe in fair play, but all these values are not applied because no-one wants to lose.
Impact on players
The end to the NFD season is massive setback for some players regardless of who gets promoted and wins the Play-offs. There are players who have been in the GladAfrica for many years, imagine they win promotion and all of sudden the issue goes to court?
Some of them will never play PSL football, and yet we are the same people who criticise players and say they don’t look after themselves post retirement.
Teams get sold left, right and centre, and players are on the receiving end. No matter what regulations are put in place, players are never protected. Their contracts are settled for three months, but they have to live long after retirement.
When clubs are sold many times, players are told they will not be retained. As a player you are told in no uncertain terms that you have train with the development team or leave. You are treated like you are not a human being.
That piece of paper, your contract, does not protect anyone. You end up saying, ‘to hell with that, let me go’. Players are treated like second class citizens. Administrators have jobs and other businesses they run. But as players, we know nothing except for football.
But it seems as if that is a curse because the system always works against the players.