The South African Football Association (Safa) have poured cold water on the Premier Soccer League’s audacious plans to restart their season next weekend.
Safa slammed the PSL for suggesting an unrealistic timeline for a return to play submitted in a letter to the Joint Liason Committee.
Sports Minister Nathi Mthethwa has asked Safa to play a greater role in overseeing the league which is owned jointly by the 16 clubs who take part and ordinarily operates independently of the national association.
Safa has indicated that no return to play would be possible before 1 August and said that the process of consultation with government and the PSL was ongoing.
The association’s chief executive expressed disbelief at the plans which come just as Safa and the PSL had agreed to halt deliberations until the PSL’s compliance officer, Michael Murphy recovers from illness.
“I would like to express utter surprise at the contents of the letter, coming as it does only a few hours after we agreed at our meeting, (at the request of the NSL) that we cannot conduct any substantive deliberations due to Mr. Murphy’s absence due to ill health,” wrote SAFA acting CEO Tebogo Motlanthe in response.
Motlanthe said that the PSL was ignoring directives from the government in making unilateral declarations of their intent to resume training and play on a hurried schedule.
“The unilateral confirmation of training venues and date for resumption of play on 18 July 2020 by the NSL is against the spirit of our meeting and the resolutions of the Joint Liaison Committee. Sadly, it also undermines Minister Mthethwa’s directive that the association should play an overarching role in this matter,” added Motlanthe in a letter leaked to the press.
“I wish to reiterate two critical factors we outlined at the meeting today (Friday), namely; that we are committed to the resumption of play under safe conditions wherein the safety of players, team officials, match officials, and other participants is not compromised and secondly, that for the reasons outlined at the meeting and in the presentation I have since sent you, it is not practical to expect resumption of play before 01 August 2020. It is for this reason that we agreed to invite the management of the Referees Department to our next meeting to outline their project timelines, which will then enable all of us to make informed, responsible decisions.”
Safa further contends that there is no way that match officials could be readied for matches this weekend.
“One of the primary considerations for the return to play is that the mobilization, administration, group training, and conditioning of match officials cannot be done with haste.
“It must be executed meticulously and with due regard to for CAF and Fifa prescripts. This is in addition to the prerogative to respect the process outlined by government,” wrote Motlanthe.
Source: thesouthafrican.com