Motsepe teams face cash crunch ahead of league resuming

ABC Motsepe clubs are facing a cash crunch as they prepare for the resumption of the league on October 1.

It has been about five months since the league closed due to Covid-19.

It would be reasonable to think teams would be itching to get back into action but the restart has prompted sleepless  nights.

This is due to the strict Covid-19 rules and regulations that teams have to conform to, which will see clubs spending way more money than usual.

The clubs will have to carry costs such as testing of players and making sure they are compliant with Safa’s Covid-19 rules.

Furthermore, each club needs to have a compliance officer.

Safa Eastern Cape secretary Isaac Klaas said it would also be the club’s responsibility to make sure nobody other than their opponents and officials entered the stadium on match days.

“We will not have a bio-bubble.

“Teams will play on that given day and go back home.

“All we will do is to check the temperature of players on match day.

“If a player has a high temperature on the day, the match commissionaire will isolate him.

“If the entire team has a high temperature the match will be a walkover, that is the unfortunate thing.

“No fans are allowed to watch the matches,”  Klaas said.

PE Stars chief operating officer Graeme Sauls said clubs would struggle to comply with Covid-19 rules.

“I think every team in the Motsepe League is in the same boat.

“They are going to struggle to comply,” Sauls said.

“We are probably going to try to adhere to the minimum requirements.

“We don’t have the funds to test the players.

“If we test the player and the player then goes home on a Wednesday, he could get Covid on a Friday.

“We don’t have the facility to isolate players, so it’s very difficult.

“We agree that Safa sees the need to finish the season but from our personal perspective we basically don’t have a team.

“We now have to scramble to get players together to finish the season just so our status as a Motsepe team is retained because if we miss three games then they kick you out of the league.

“So it’s a case of we comply or we die.”

Stars are fifth on the log with 37 points from 22 matches.

They still have seven matches outstanding and two of those are away games.

Peace Makers coach Siyabulela Gwambi shared the same sentiment.

Despite the financial implications, Gwambi said as a club they were happy with the resumption of the league though they had not received official word from Safa.  

“When you are faced with the situation that we are in players tend to disappear.

“If we finish the season we’ll know how many players we have and where to start next season, but if we don’t finish the season we will not know how many players we are left with.

“On the other hand, the compliance issue is critical.

“We will not be in a bio-bubble and we will be travelling, and some of places that we will be required to go to are hotspots for Covid-19.

“There was a meeting on Thursday.

“Unfortunately we could not attend it, so are we still waiting for the minutes to hear the resolution of the meeting.”

Relegation threatened Sibanye declined to comment.

- HeraldLIVE