In Preparation of the Special Congress, and Beyond

Here-below are some of the updates from the Executive Committee ahead of the Special Congress of the 26th of May 2018.

1. Extra-Ordinary Congress

The association will be holding a Special Congress on the 26th of May 2018 as a continuance of the Ordinary Congress. The matters to be discussed are:

1) Discussion of the Young Tigers Motions.

2) Amendments of the Rules.

3) Amendments to the Constitution.

4) Adoption of the Administration Policy.

5) Appointment of the Auditors.

In addition to the above matters, the following will also be discussed:

1) Clubs that have been admitted improperly.

2) Outstanding DC Cases involving Jakaranda, Young Tigers and Sabona Chelsea, where outcome thereof has a potential of deciding the league positioning for 2017.

Affiliates are required to acquaint themselves with the above issues in order to participate meaningfully in the discussions, and to assist the Congress to arrive at the proper and effective resolutions.

2. Registration Fees

Members need to be reminded that during the 2016 Congress we resolved to merge the Team Registration with the Referees Fees, all to be paid upfront as once Registration Fee. We did not implement this in 2016 and in 2017. We are implementing this now. It is not going to be easy, but it is an absolute requirement.

We have allowed the message that separates the team registration from match fees (match fees is a combination of the Referees fee and the mark-up to cover the transactional costs). Changing that message again was going to confuse the clubs even more during the course of registration in order to kick off. So clubs were requested to pay team registration fees without the match fees pending the final directive on this issue.

To rectify the above with minimum confusion, we will allow this arrangement to carry on. However, we must communicate the following message with the strictest possible tone:

a) The Executive Committee has allowed the clubs continue to register without Match Fees. Referee fees amounts will be discussed at the Extra-ordinary Congress on the 26th of May 2018.

b) Once Referee Fees amounts are agreed upon, clubs will be immediately invoiced for the Match Fees, which must be paid by the 30th of June 2018.

c) Clubs are therefore encouraged to hold on the to fees that are equivalent to the fees that have been communicated in an earlier memorandum that was shared by the Secretary of the Association.

d) For the current season, Referees must NOT be paid at the grounds as they will be paid monthly by the association.

3. 2018 Super League Season

We have agreed that we will run all our leagues concurrently. This includes the Super League. The planned end of the current season of the Super League is the 25th of May 2018.

The Super League teams will be given the month of June to rest and to collate the Registration fees. Those must be paid by 30 June in order for the 2018 Super League to start in July. In essence, that league will be playing for 3 months. So we have to be creative as to how we will make that happen. There are many exciting ways of doing this. Our Leagues and Competitions Committee will drive that initiative.

The winner in October this year will go to the Play-offs next May / June. But they will have to register again in January 2019 to play for the 2019 Super League Season. During the time of the Play offs, we will give them time to prepare, and we will also support them.

What to note also is that they need to be able to save their 2018 winnings in order to fund their preparations for the Play-offs six month later.

4. Promotional League

Again, in 2016 the association resolved that we will add a Promotional League as a senior football lower league. Again, we failed to implement this league. We need to put the gear to motion on this to at least start in 2019. The Head of Football will work on a plan on how this will be done, given the low number of teams participating currently.

In addition, focusing on development, there is a recommendation that the Promotional League must have an age limit of 21. There is also a recommendation that the promotional league must replace the Under 19 league. Broad consultations will be embarked on in ensuring that the implementation take a shape that will improve the association for the better.

5. Executive Committee Meetings

We will have one EXCO Meeting per month. The dates thereof are fixed on the annual calendar which will be shared with the members. All matters requiring the attention of the Executive Committee will then be discussed during these dates.

Executive Committee members will submit individual reports in a predefined format on a monthly bases. These will be submitted to the Secretary by the 2nd of each month to be discussed during the Executive Committee meetings.

Members of the Executive Committee have been urged to ensure that when coming to the meetings, their actions are already done. Where they have failed, they would have escalated their challenges in time to give time for the necessary interventions. If they fail to fulfil their actions and at the same time fail to escalate in time, then such a member would have completely failed in their duties. We need to be professional and remember that we are not in the Executive Committee for politics, but to take this association forward. This is the theme that came out more and clearly at the Congress. So the pressure to perform must be taken as a positive one, and has a potential of creating even more opportunities for us as a collective and as individuals.

We will also have Emergency Meetings every now and again to deal with the pressing issues, and some of those will be on teleconference.

6. The Office Operations

The Executive Committee has resolved to support the motion of keeping the Vice-Secretary portfolio in the Executive Committee. This indirectly puts on the shelve the Administrator position, which is a paid position. It also means that the role that would have been played by the Administrator will now be largely played by the Vice-Secretary.

The Administrator would have manned the Office of the association on weekdays from 16h00 to 20h30 (on Fridays until 19h00). This was fine as it was a paid role. We cannot expect the same with the Vice-Secretary as this is a voluntary role.

However, as also indicated in the Calendar, the Office Operations will always be in effect Mondays and Tuesdays from 18h00 to 20h00. In our Administration and Communications Policy we say the business of the association cannot be conducted outside of the premised of the association. This means, all the physical exchanges between the association and all its stakeholders must happen in the office of the association. Therefore, these will happen during those times as on the Calendar. These times will be published and posted on the door of our office. This will enable predictability and increase pleasure in the service to our members and stakeholders.

Where the Vice-Secretary will not be able to man the office for whatever reason, he will arrange with one of the members of the committee to be available so that the service does not stop.

We really hope that in a short while we will have our office at Lucas Moripe Stadium. It is long overdue. We have escalated this issue and we trust that our escalation will work. Thanks to Ms Lefhiedi.

7. SAFA Tshwane Congress

The SAFA Congress is upon us. Hammanskraal has already submitted their motions. We have read through the motion, it is not too specific, but as broad as it is, we as PLFA agree with it. This will be shared with the Members to also read and give opinions so that we can formulate the position of the association.

We also have a motion that we need to put forward to the SAFA Tshwane Congress, and this is:

SAFA Tshwane to support and take forward the motion to have SAFA to use one Constitution as it is one organisation. Similar examples can be found in the political arena. This is from SAFA National to the Regions. One organisation cannot have more than 60 Constitutions.

We are not sure if this coming SAFA Tshwane Congress will be an elective one or not. This has not been clearly articulated in all the correspondences that we have received. However, there are speculations that indeed it will be an elective one. The Regional EXCO meeting that needed to take place on the 19th of May has been moved to a later date. Perhaps in that meeting it will be clearer.

In case this Congress is an elective one, we need to support one of our own to take up the position of President of the region. We have been talking about this in the corridors and we think we need to come out and be both bold and clear. We want Mr Solly Mohlabeng, our current Secretary, to take up that role. We are saying this out now because should they say the Congress is an elective one, there will be little time to canvass.

Members of our association need to support this view. We need to be solid and resolute without jitters.

8. Annual Calendar

The Annual Calendar will direct all the activities of the association. These will be scheduled in accordance with the set dates in order to ensure stability. Any deviation must be approved prior.

The Calendar will also be published on the association’s website.

I thank you all.