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Media Statement 31 March 2017

The South African Football Players Union held a meeting yesterday with the South African Football Association President Dr Danny Jordaan to deal with issues that impact our football. We move from the premise that says SAFA as the authority of football in the country must take its rightful place if we are to be taken serious as a footballing nation. We also believe that SAFA should do everything in its power to ensure that the rules of the game are not only favourable to clubs but are favourable to players as well, simply put SAFA should provide players with a recourse when it comes to conditions of employment the players. Below are some of the issues we raised for discussions.
1. The Non – Compliance of the federation and the league regards the Dispute Resolution Chamber Mechanism as per FIFA circulars 1010 and 1129. It is a well-documented fact that the FIFA DRC has pronounced itself on a number of occasions on the non-compliance. Our case was also strengthened by the labour court ruling matter on the issue of jurisdiction. In actual fact the court applied similar principles as FIFA minimum requirements regards the NDRC. Both judgements concur that the dispute mechanism is not fair and compliant. The labour ruling in essence empowers players in that they are no longer obliged to refer their matters to the DRC which does not meet required standards as per FIFA statutes, safe to say we will be appearing before CAS regarding the non- compliance of the DRC from 30 – 31 May 2017. We have once again called on SAFA help in this regard as players cannot afford to pay R53000,00 to get justice.
2. The exorbitant referral fees charged by CAS, in this regard we hope to raise this matter with COSAFA, to champion this matter. Because the current CAS system is very expensive for any African stakeholder in the game, more so it is very prejudicial to the players plying their trades in Africa. We are positive that this matter will find its way on the agenda of COSAFA, most importantly we hope to be given the opportunity to address them on issues that affect football in the region particularly to the extent that players and administration of the game are concerned.
3. We touched on the importance of club licensing as envisaged by both CAF and FIFA. It is indeed imperative that clubs should comply with this important requirement as this will eliminate a lot of grey areas when it comes to contractual issues of the players especially the responsibilities of clubs towards the players. Over and above the club licensing it is our view that SAFA must ensure that the FIFA management and administration course is done by current and the next generation of football administrators, footballers included. We hope that the league will at least start workshops for their members who are clubs to give clarity regards this aspect of the game.
4. With regards to the “new” NSL handbook, we have registered our dissatisfaction and requested that SAFA really looks into this matter as players were never given the opportunity to input on the rules and regulations that governs the game they are participants in. It is unheard of anywhere in the world, especially here at home where we have the labours relations act, which guides us on relations between the employers and employees, that the employer can just take decisions that will impact on employees without consulting them. Unfortunately this is the order of the day in football and we are hopeful that the meeting with SAFA, will help us usher a new way of doing things.
5. The SAFA national team players contract should also be structured in a way that will enable players to carry out their responsibilities over a four year period without any unnecessary problems. This approach will elevate a number of problems that have confronted us as a nation in the past.
6. We also touched on the painful story of Clifton Miheso, who was allegedly forced to terminate his contract at gun point by Golden Arrows FC. We expressed our views which are well known and requested for the intervention of the association, to the extent that the investigation on this matter does happen. We would like to see a credible and just process.
7. We also touched on the non-compliance of FIFA awards by clubs, and have requested the intervention of SAFA who is the extension of FIFA in the country.

It is important to note that a process has been agreed, to tackle all issues including setting up a follow up meeting immediately after the COSAFA meeting of 6-7 April 2017. The President of SAFA Dr Jordan has made a commitment to revert to us on issues raised. We hope that SAFA will assert itself as an authority of football in the country, this should translate to the total development of the game at all levels.
For More Information:

Facebook: South African Football Players Union Twitter: @SAFPU_Official

Media Queries to:

Vusi Mtimane 011 339 1906 or 076 423 3126 vusitso@safpu.org
Media Liason Officer

Thulaganyo Gaoshubelwe
Secretary General ... See more