There is already trouble in paradise at Siwelele FC as head honcho Calvin Le John, the eldest son of South African sports minister Gayton McKenzie, is said to be struggling to keep the Betway Premiership side afloat.
And as a result of his pockets emptying, Le John decided to save money at the expense of his players, by making them travel by bus to all six league matches that they have played so far this season. This is, according to well-placed informants, who said the club cannot afford to book flights.
News reaching this publication is that the situation worsened when the said team bus broke down on its way to KwaZulu-Natal to face Durban City at the Chatsworth Stadium.
Siwelele are said to have arrived two hours before kick-off, resulting in the team losing the match 2-0, their fourth defeat of the season after six outings.
“The Siwelele FC players and technical team have never been flown to any of their away games so far this season. Instead, the club has been driving them around to matches by bus with the hope of saving some money,” said the anonymous source.
So, they drove on the day of the match against Durban City from Johannesburg. They then drove back a day after the game [on Wednesday] and drove again on Friday to Limpopo for their game against Magesi in Seshego, just outside Polokwane.
“So, you can imagine the amount of strain the players are taking from all of this, which explains why they have not been performing.”
The informant also told Sunday World that the team did not organize a place to train in Polokwane and were forced to train at their base in Gauteng before travelling by bus shortly after their session.
A former player who left the club after it acquired the status of SuperSport United also spoke to this publication regarding the bus situation at the club, stating that his former teammates have been venting about the unpleasant travelling conditions at
Siwelele.
“I think I made the right decision to leave the club because I am told that it’s a mess there,” he stated. “The guys who I played with told me about the whole situation of having to travel by bus in all their games. So, the guys are not happy, and the travelling is taking its toll on them, they are already tired, and the results speak for themselves.”
After six matches, the team has recorded a single victory and a draw and lost the other four. They are lying 12th on the PSL table. “We have a club policy relating to this matter. Under 600km, we drive, and anything above that, we fly. We own our bus, we don’t rent it, hence it is always cheaper to drive,” Le John denied the allegations.
“Sometimes when the fixtures are too many in a week, we fly to limit player fatigue. For example, we flew for our first game against Golden Arrows.
“We are also currently in the process of building a R200 million facility in Bloemfontein, so we do not have financial problems. So, we are working on an annual budget, and everything we do is based on that. Cutting costs is part of the business.”
