Perennial SAB League runners-up may be considered for help
JOBURG - The South African Breweries may consider throwing a lifeline to struggling teams in the SAB League.
Perennial runners-up of the South African Breweries (SAB) sponsored soccer leagues may be considered for financial assistance in future.
This was revealed by SAB’s Africa Zone corporate affairs director, Nirishi Trikamjee in an interview with Alex News following a successful SAB League Skills Camp at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria for 52 coaches.
Trikamjee said the SAB would offer yearly financial assistance for teams that were runners-up in the leagues in an effort to prop them up for the coming season as they have shown to be serious contenders for title honours.
“We want to ensure that those contenders are competitive in the following season and become potential winners of the leagues,” she said.
Asked why they could not render the same assistance to other perennial teams of the league, some of whom have been survivors for the past five years as this was where the need was greatest, Trikamjee said they ‘were putting their money where their mouth was’.
“We decided to assist the runners-up as they have shown potential of being serious challengers in the leagues, and with a little boost they could see themselves up a rung or so in the ladder of the Safa football development,” she said.
“We’re a bit worried about investing so much money in a club that may not even make it but I understand where you’re coming from and the fact that this is where the greatest need is. Clubs also need to prove to us they have what it takes to challenge for the league, so we can also add some spice to their efforts in that challenge.
“I am not ruling out the possibility of assisting the perennial strugglers as well. It is any issue we can look into and possibly find a way to tackle it as well.”
A case in point was Alex club, FC Godisanang, which has been a perennial survivor of the SAB League in the Johannesburg Safa Region for more than five years, but has since sold its status to a team in Soweto as they were disillusioned about their chances of success.
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