The recently concluded 2024/25 season will be the campaign that the Premier Soccer League (PSL) and its newly acquired sponsors Betway will want to forget quickly.
Betway, may just be wondering what they may have gotten themselves into. The sponsor’s maiden season in the highest echelons of SA football was marred by administrative blunders and embarrassing legal showdowns never seen in the history of the PSL. Several precedents were set, which gave the league bosses migraines.
The administration of SA diski is not for the faint-hearted and the lily-livered. More often than not, things are not done by the book, and corporate governance occasionally gets a tackle from behind from the powers that be.
Sometimes, this is not done deliberately, but situations arise that need a street-smart approach and a solution away from the handbook – and that is why a band of shrewd, adaptable, streetwise and sophisticated young administrators are needed to take over the running of the ship.
I have said it on numerous occasions that the PSL board of governors, appointing chairman Irvin Khoza for his fifth term, means they do not have the confidence and ambition to steer the multi-billion monster into a new direction. The “Iron Duke” and his right-hand man Kaizer Motaung are no longer the young, cutting-edge and dynamic administrators they used to be 30 years ago when they launched the premiership.
They turned an organisation that was in shambles into a powerhouse. They changed the mentality of club bosses who were happy to pay players’ salaries from the boot of their cars, they ended the violence where club bosses, coaches and fans would storm onto the pitch, attack referees and opponents after a loss.
They brought billions of rands into the game and introduced professionalism via a compliance manual. But things went a bit pear-shaped this season. Cash-strapped sponsors DStv dumped the league and cancelled its contract abruptly, a year before expiry.
The league bosses scurried around looking for a replacement. Betting giants Betway came to the rescue after a long, six-week delay of fixtures. The prize money and new trophy were not unveiled, much to the dismay of supporters, the media and club officials.
The clubs were competing for an unknown league trophy with an undisclosed amount of dosh.
Later in the season, Royal AM were unable to honour fixtures due to their tax issues with Sars. The league cancelled all Royal AM matches. They later expelled the KZN club due to failure to fulfil fixtures.
In February, a SuperSport United against Arrows match was called off due to a power failure at Lucas Moripe Stadium – the match had to be resumed, but the PSL remained mum on the date of the replay. The restart was played this past week, three months after the incident, when the rule book says it must be replayed within 48 hours.
The conclusion of the season was even more bizarre. Orlando Pirates, who were knocked out of the CAF Champions League in the semifinals, finished the league campaign two weeks later after Mamelodi Sundowns, who went all the way to the final.
There are still outstanding protests in the relegation/promotion play-offs. Motsepe Foundation champions Durban City are accused of fielding an improperly registered player, and the matter is now headed to
Safa for arbitration.
The playoffs, due to have started on Tuesday, cannot take place due to the protests. This has resulted in the PSL postponing the end-of-season awards.
Famed poet Mzwakhe Mbuli once said in one of his poems: “It is a mess….Mmmm mess!!!”
