The Siya crew spoke to a top agent in SA to get their expert understanding on what’s going on. For obvious reasons, the agent will remain anonymous.
“I’d say it’s an interesting one. Obviously, the league knew that South Africa would not be participating at the World Cup, so there should have been consideration to continue with the league during this time. Also,
when you look at the amount of players that could have potentially been selected, it was always a minimal amount. Richard Ofori was realistically the only player who could have gone, so there should have been consideration to continue within this time. But maybe as a token of respect to the world governing body FIFA, a decision was made. Relationships the PSL might have could have played a role, with a South African also serving as a CAF president, and there are five African countries playing at the World Cup. These are things that could have also been considered when you look at the decision not to continue with the league.
There is also the issue of broadcasting, with SuperSport being one of the main broadcasters across the continent of the World Cup. We’ve seen the World Cup coverage being quite extensive, with various shows and buildups. When you look at where the league fixtures would have been able to fit in during this time, and the fact that the time difference is not massive, you’d obviously have clashes with the World Cup and PSL games. The other aspect is that DStv sponsors the Premiership, so there is a conflict. With SuperSport being the main broadcaster, the League had to respect that relationship. I think it was a big consideration from the League. We tend to focus on the football aspect and ask why the league is not continuing, but we need to look at the other aspects around broadcasting and sponsorship. I think they played an even bigger role than the footballing side. Also, we need to look at supporters. Would you go to the stadium while the World Cup is on? Maybe not. Countries like Egypt and Algeria have continued, but maybe their non-footballing factors are not as prominent as ours when it comes to continuing with the league.”