Maritzburg United, whose hopes of remaining in the elite Premier Soccer League (PSL) status were dashed by Cape Town Spurs, have been dealt another heavy blow.
It has emerged that Msunduzi local municipality have decided to pull out of the financial arrangement that the Pietermaritzburg based council was giving to the outfit. It is estimated that the financial backing was in excess of R 50 million rand.
According to insiders in the municipality who spoke to Sunday World, the decision was a long time coming.
The council resolution was agreed to unanimously because it wouldn’t have 7made financial sense to support a club who will no longer bring much needed marketing and visibility for the city. Besides, the deal was a subject of strong criticism from opposition parties who argued that public money should not be used to support a private entity,” explained the insider.
The club affectionately called the Team of Choice will now have to battle it out in the highly competitive Motsepe Foundation backed National First Division (NFD) where regaining promotion is often a mammoth task.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Tuesday welcomed the council decision to terminate its contract with the club, saying the deal had no value for money.
“The recruitment of our local players to the Maritzburg Inited team was very minimum whereas our local coaches were not considered for any role in the Maritzburg United technical team. The municipality instead must support the Local Sporting Federations, nonprofit organisations, and sport development programs,” said the party in a statement.
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