Safa Eastern Cape has dismissed rumours that the province declined an offer from the mother body to host the National ABC Motsepe League playoffs.
There was no such thing as us rejecting hosting the national playoffs. We hosted the playoffs successfully about six or seven years ago. We would love to host them again.
— Sandile Eric Mata, Safa EC competitions committee chairperson
Before the league’s provincial decider between FC Ravens and Old Grey at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane on Saturday, reports circulated alleging that the provincial body had been given the task to host the national playoffs but decided against it.
Safa EC competitions committee chair Sandile Eric Mata said this was not the case.
He said the province is interested in hosting the playoffs, and the bidding window is still open.
An amount of R3m is required for the province to be the host.
That is for accommodation, security and emergency medical services, among other things, while Safa national will take care of some expenses.
Mata, who sits on the competitions committee at a national level, said the bidding period was extended by the mother body.
It was initially meant to close on March 31. At that time, only the Western Cape had shown interest.
“There was no such thing as us rejecting hosting the national playoffs,” Mata said. “We hosted the playoffs successfully about six or seven years ago. We would love to host them again.”
Mata said it was the duty of the Eastern Cape regions to submit proposals for hosting rights.
“It is the regions that get the grants from Safa national. Even the money to run the regional leagues. Safa EC does not get money anywhere. Its job is to just constitute the regions.
“They are the ones who have to put in a proposal and lobby the municipalities to help them out.”
Mata said they were delighted with having gone through the season without boardroom complications like last season.
Due to court battles between clubs in the league, the Eastern Cape didn’t have a representative at the national playoffs.
This season the province is the first to produce a champion out of the nine provinces.
Ravens from Bizana will be the rep for the province.
An injection of resources into the development of referees and officials was one of the key factors behind the success, something that was top of their agenda before the start of the season.
“What happened last year was a big wake-up call for us to be firm about how we did things. We took a stand at the start of the season,” Mata said.
“We had development training courses for referees at the start and recently now at the end of the season. Our problems started with the referees. We had to find ways to minimise the challenges they face.
“It was not a nice thing for the province not having a representative. Who knows? Maybe we would have had a team promoted to the Motsepe Foundation Championship,” he said.
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