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| Super Sono: will we ever see this again? |
THERE is a scandal lurking beneath the surface of South
Africa football which needs to be urgently addressed. It has nothing to do with
Bobby Motaung’s dealings in Mbombela or the way Orlando Pirates go for the
ball.
This is a far more pressing problem involving a missing
teenager: What exactly has happened to the 16-year-old National First Division?
Last week, as the Premier Soccer League celebrated the
return of ABSA, introduced the Q innovation and offered journalists R500,000 to
predict results, we were told the NFD was “suspended until further notice”.
That’s like the Championship in England being called off a
week after it was due to start… an unthinkable act of footballing foolishness.
Acting PSL CEO Cambridge Mokanyane, a controversial
caretaker following the shock departure of Stanley Matthews at the end of last
season, says we must now wait for a Special General Meeting “towards the end of
August 2012” that will decide on the future of the NFD.
But exactly why Mokanyane was involved is hard to fathom,
given that the members agreed just a week earlier that the NFD should be a
stand-alone league in an effort to make it more viable as an attractive brand.
What we do know is this: relegated Premier League sides Jomo
Cosmos and Santos, along with failed play-off contenders Thanda Royal Zulu, are
now operating in a vacuum. They have resumed pre-season training and are paying
large squads of professional players – but they have no fixture list and no
prospect of a game – or promotion - in sight.
Jomo Sono, the larger-than-life proprietor of relegated PSL club Cosmos, insists: “I know both leagues because we have played in both
of them for quite some time. It’s high time the NFD realised its potential in
terms of competing for support and raising the level of competition on the
field."
While the new-fangled PSL offers R1.5m to the quarterly winners of their
top tier, the NFD remains dramatically sponsor-free and racked by legal action
brought over the presence of various unregistered players last season.
Blackburn Rovers had a drawn out issue and just last week it
was announced that Carara Kicks have been relegated from the league which South
African football relies upon to feed clubs in to the Premier.
Though there is no date set for the “special meeting”, the PSL – sponsors of the NFD when Mvelaphanda
pulled out in 2007 - insist they will "deliberate and expand on the NFD
matter" but nobody is willing to talk and the First division teams have
NOT YET been give their R250 000 monthly grant (the Premier clubs receive R1m) though the PSL's head of communications Connie Motshumi insists thi will happen soon.
When the NFD split from the PSL, Jabu Khumalo, boss of long-running
NFD side African Warriors, said: "We are confident that the stand-alone
National First Division will grow as a big sporting brand in South Africa and
on the continent.
"We have many companies that we intend approaching to
sponsor us, including television companies to broadcast our matches."
But Khumalo insists the word “split” is too strong. He said:
“It’s too strong to say split. It doesn’t perfectly describe what this is all
about.
“There is the main body which runs both the PSL and the NFD,
the NSL. Should this go ahead it will remain like that only that the NFD will
not fall under the PSL as it has in the
past but will be a standalone league.
“We will then start mobilising sponsors and re-brand the
league to make it more attractive to not only future funders but fans too.
“This will have a positive impact on South African football
in the long run. We will continue to be a development league for the PSL but
now we will be giving them stronger
teams and stronger players who can compete, raising the bar.”
Khumalo says: “The problem is that we have been overshadowed
by the PSL for far too long and initially it will be hard but we can make it
work.”
And we can only hope he’s right. A Premier League without a
feeder system and, possibly, without promotion and relegation, is unthinkable.
This article appeared in www.thenewage.co.za today... if you have any information of the impact of the NFD suspension, please email me on www.nealcollins.hotmail.com.
