Safpu on what made Banyana Banyana angry

A feeling from Banyana Banyana that they had not been treated with the respect African champions and World Cup qualifiers deserved on their contracts, opposition, match venue and even apparel led to their dispute with the South African Football Association (Safa).

South African Football Players Union (Safpu) vice-president Tebogo Monyai said frustration from the team as they felt these issues were not being dealt with led to threats of not playing their send-off friendly against Botswana at Tsakane Stadium in Ekhuruleni.

Safpu have alleged Banyana never made a decision to boycott the game and were surprised when they were told on the team bus they would not be playing. A hastily compiled replacement team lost 5-0.

Monyai said among issues was a R570,000 appearance fee per player for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20 from Fifa was not stipulated in Safa’s contract.

TimesLIVE further understands the players were raising questions such as where preparation funding provided by Fifa to federations went. They were looking at the example of fellow African qualifiers Zambia, who caught a plane home from Germany this weekend after a 3-3 draw against Switzerland on Friday. Zambia lost 3-2 against Ireland in Dublin days before that.

Reports have been matches against Switzerland and Germany were offered to Safa but turned down over the cost, so Zambia were the recipients.

In South Africa’s group G at the World Cup are Sweden, ranked third in the world, Italy (16th) and Argentina (28th). Banyana, ranked 54th, were questioning how Botswana, ranked 150th, would provide effective preparation opposition.

“From Tuesday Safpu got a call from the Banyana Banyana players to come and meet them and listen to their grievances,” Monyai said.

“Among other things were the contract from Safa, which, when we looked at it, was blank [lacking detail]. It never addresses issues such as incentives, including the R570,000 that is apparently being paid by Fifa. The players are saying, can that R570,00 find its way into the contract?

“In terms of the playing kit, in the contract it's stipulated they will only have four match jerseys. They raised the concern that they might want to exchange jerseys as part of the legacy for themselves.

“Another part was the issue of a healthy working environment in terms of the facilities. They stressed some of them have contracts in Europe and were not comfortable playing at Tsakane because the state of the pitch was not up to standard, and we have top facilities in the country.

“They requested Safa include in the contract the bonus structure should they go past the first stage, and for each subsequent stage.”

On the events as they unfolded on Sunday, TimesLIVE understands there was a back and forth with Safa, with players indicating they would not play if they did not get assurances their requests would be properly attended to.

Banyana still believed they would honour the fixture, but were told on the team bus they would not be playing.

“The players never said they didn’t want to play this match,” Monyai said. “They said as long as their grievances were not attended to by the Safa leadership, they were not available to come and play the match. Of course, they would come [and play], but they wanted their issues addressed either at the hotel or stadium.

“They were scheduled to leave the hotel at 12.30pm. The union had been with them from 9am. They were inside the bus and told it must not leave, it must wait for Safa president Danny Jordaan.

“A few members of the NEC [Safa national executive committee] arrived. They said Jordaan was coming to address us — we never saw Jordaan.

“Safpu decided, let us travel to Tsakane Stadium and see what was happening. We realised what was happening, then Safpu organised and paid for transport for the players to go to the stadium and meet the Safa leadership, and also support the players on the field.”

Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi chaired an urgent meeting at Tsakane Stadium on Sunday to reach guidelines for Safa and Banyana to come to an agreement before the team's departure to the World Cup in two groups on Wednesday and Thursday.

Jordaan was present at a press conference to report to the media on that meeting and the events of the day, but only Lesufi would answer questions.

Asked if Safa intends to pay the R570,000 Fifa appearance fee on to the players, Lesufi said: “The contracts content is still going to be discussed, and in that the key issues are bonuses and figures.”

On the venue of Tsakane Stadium, Lesufi said: “Safa indicated that on the basis of the complaint they received they allowed processes — match commissioners and so on — to inspect the pitch and they made the call the pitch was playable.”

Asked for a reaction to Safpu’s allegation that the players intended to play and were told on the bus they would not, Lesufi said: “The players’ commitment to play has never been disputed. Actually the players needed an explanation on who communicated a decision that they were not willing to play. That’s an answer they still want to get from us.

“It was just a communication breakdown. We sorted it out. The parties are going back to the table to discuss it.”

He said he believed an agreement would be reached in the coming days.

“Listening to the team, it’s quite clear there were deep-seated differences [with Safa] and this just created the spark. And now everyone has tabled their issues, I’m convinced we will have a final resolution.”

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