The Portfolio Committee on Sport, Arts and Culture will invite to Parliament the South African Football Association (SAFA) in its quest to get the governance and finances of the association back on solid ground. SAFA appeared before the committee on Tuesday where it informed the committee that its finances were not sound and that they were working on challenges.
The Chairperson of the committee, Mr Joe McGluwa, said the serious issues that confronted the association necessitate that there be a follow up meeting. “We need a way forward to pull SAFA from the financial stress it is in. It concerns the committee that a lot of crucial details to many issues at SAFA are being withheld from Members. Importantly, we could not find a sense that issues were being dealt with proactively.”
Mr McGluwa said it worried the committee that SAFA lacked cogent programmes a challenge which has seen many aspiring footballers leave other provinces mainly to concentrate in Johannesburg.
Among the many challenges that the committee was informed included the lack of sponsors, salary disparities related to national coaches, lack of consequence management, lack of budget with such consequence as having liabilities far exceed assets, etc.
Mr McGluwa said the inability to generate revenue for the national association was worrisome and could spell disaster for provinces and regions of SAFA as many tournaments had been staged without any form of support.
“SAFA is not sustainable; SAFA cannot run its operations. This is the elephant in the room that all football loving people need to sort the mess out,” added Mr McGluwa.
Africa Fact: The mediaeval Nigerian city of Benin was built to “a scale comparable with the Great Wall of China”. There was a vast system of defensive walling totalling 10,000 miles in all. Even before the full extent of the city walling had become apparent the Guinness Book of Records carried an entry in the 1974 edition that described the city as: “The largest earthworks in the world carried out prior to the mechanical era.”
Riff Raff
Sport Trivia: How many drop goals were \”dropped\” in the 1999 World Cup qualifier between England and South Africa, and by whom? Answer: Jannie de Beer – 5 drops in the 1999 World Cup,against England in Paris. South Africa won the match 44 – 21.
General Broomdog
Rugby balls were first made from pig’s bladders – Rugby ball’s distinctive plum shape makes them aerodynamic, easy to hold, and easy to pass over distances. To encapsulate those qualities, original rugby balls were made from inflated pigs bladders, stitched tightly to trap the air. Gross but very true!