TS Galaxy boss Sukazi to the PSL: Amend the rules and accommodate the champions

14 August 2019 - 13:28 By Mahlatse Mphahlele
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Tim Sukazi of TS Galaxy during the official launch of the GladAfrica Championship at Studio 6 on August 13, 2019 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Tim Sukazi of TS Galaxy during the official launch of the GladAfrica Championship at Studio 6 on August 13, 2019 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Image: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images

TS Galaxy chairman Tim Sukazi says the lower tier side should be allowed to be begin the defence of their Nedbank Cup title from the round of 32 and has thrown the gauntlet to the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to amend the rules.

Galaxy‚ who play in the National First Division (NFD) now known as the GladAfrica Championship‚ will have to start their title defence from the qualifying stages.

Coach Dan Malesela’s side famously stunned Kaizer Chiefs to lift the trophy and qualify for the Caf Confederation Cup in May. They started their participation in the continental tournament with a 1-0 win over St Louis of Seychelles last weekend.

“As the defending champions of the Nedbank Cup‚ who happen to be playing in the NFD (lower titer) as opposed to the PSL (topflight)‚ we would have hoped for better thinking around this issue of us having to play the preliminaries to qualify for the last 32 of the tournament proper‚” said Sukazi.

“I am throwing a challenge at them (the PSL) to say 'look at the rules and see that you amend them so that they cater for this current situation'.

"Laws change to cater for prevailing circumstances in every sector.

"What stops us as football people‚ being as innovative and smart as we are‚ from changing these rules that now seem not to be making sense and not accommodating to the current circumstances.

“We have an abnormal situation here where the 16 PSL clubs will qualify automatically for the round of 32 without any of them being champions and we have to play qualifiers.

"If that comes from the rules‚ no one contemplated this situation when they crafted those rules and it will cause whoever is responsible for drafting the rules to go back and look at the issue.

“Rules are there but even laws get amended and in my view this is a no brainer because you cannot have champions playing qualifiers and have teams who haven’t won the competition getting automatic qualification for the competition.”

However‚ senior PSL official Professor Ronnie Schloss steadfastly maintained that they would not change the constitution to accommodate Galaxy as this would give them an added advantage.

“They will start the campaign in the normal manner through the preliminaries because everybody starts from scratch and where they play‚" he said.

"The rules are clear that the Nedbank Cup is made up of 16 PSL teams‚ eight from the NFD and eight from Safa and it is going to stay like that.

"You can’t bend the rules to accommodate them as defending champions because everybody must start the tournament where they play.

"You will give them an added advantage and you can’t do that‚” said Schloss.

Sukazi‚ who is a lawyer by profession‚ said it would be unfortunate if the PSL are not be prepared to think outside the box. “I am not necessarily going to go the legal route but I am saying here is a challenge ladies and gentlemen‚ amend the rules if they don’t cater for the situation‚" he said.

"This is more than a request.

"I am advising them to look into the rules because they don’t cater for this abnormal scenario where you have defending champions having to play qualifiers for a competition they have won. We are title holders and none of the PSL clubs are holding the trophy.

“It would be unfortunate if they don’t listen to us‚ it would illustrate a number of deficiencies within our system and I hope they listen to us because we have clever men and women who are capable of thinking outside the box.

"It is all about thinking outside the box to cater for prevailing circumstances because it happens in every sector of the economy.

"Why can’t we do it?

"There are laws that are changed because of prevailing circumstances‚ so why not this time around?”


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