‘This club is still very much alive’: Goolam Allie says once-champs Santos can come back

It may sound far-fetched to many, but Goolam Allie is confident Santos FC will one day play in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) again.

The People’s Team have not played top-tier football in 14 years. They were relegated from the PSL in 2012 after they lost to Chippa United in the promotion-relegation play-offs at Philippi Stadium.

Since they were dumped out of the topflight, they suffered another relegation in 2017 from the National First Division (NFD), and they now play in the third-tier ABC Motsepe League in the Western Cape, where they are at mid-table.

The People’s Team won the PSL title and BobSave Super Bowl in 2001, the BP Top 8 in 2002 and Absa Cup in 2003 in a triumphant period for the famous Cape club.

“It was an amazing period for us in the early 2000s because when we won the league, the BobSave Super Bowl, the Top 8 and the Absa Cup, we had a very good team,” Allie said when Sunday Times visited him in Cape Town.

“It was not the youngest team in the league, but it was a well-constructed team.”

Allie rattles off names of players fans will recall like André Arendse, Edries Burton, John Mbidzo, Musa Otieno, Tyren Arendse, Jean-Sébastien Bax, Thando Mngomeni and Ricardo Mannetti, who were part of Santos’ dramatic success in those years.

“It’s been a journey of ups and downs throughout the years. Passion is a hell of a thing and it costs you. At the same time, passion drives people and if you are passionate, it translates to the people you are dealing with.”

Having been out of the PSL for 14 years, the club is forgotten in football circles, but Allie plans to move it from the third tier and back to the topflight.

“The club is very much alive. We have aspirations, and we always had aspirations to get back to the PSL. We were unfortunate not to get back on one of two occasions.

“It is still a dream, and don’t forget we are the only Cape Town club to have won the PSL title, so there is a legacy we can fight for.

“You can see the facility we have here in Cape Town, we have juniors from Under-10 to the ABC Motsepe team and we have two junior women’s teams.

“This club is still very much alive and we will fight until the end.”

Allie said Santos are contributing to the development of football despite the huge financial costs.

“We have a decent development programme. It is too expensive to try to call yourself an academy. We have to do our best with volunteer coaches because there is no money.

“Even the few rands Safa was supposed to pay the clubs, they still owe us. Safa just hasn’t paid us for many years, but they want to have players who must qualify for the national teams.

“With no disrespect, our administration is the poorest you can have. It is sad that you have clubs and people who are trying to bring football to a [lower] standard.

“Those who are supposed to be running football just don’t have the interests of the game at heart, but we will persevere.”

Part of the role Allie sees for Santos is forming an integral part of the community.

But those who are supposed to be running football just don’t have the interests of the game at heart, but we will persevere.

—  Santos FC Chairman Goolam Allie

“This is because we fought throughout the struggles, we stood for what was ethically correct, and we will always do that.

“We come from the history of no normal sport in an abnormal society. We are proud to have been part of that struggle, and we will continue to fight for what is honest and integrity.

“It was always proud history being in the federation [apartheid-era league for coloured people and those of Indian heritage], and if you see what is happening in the world today with the wars and all, you can understand why I’m proud of this club.

“We’re still fighting and our players and supporters are always loyal to this club, they stick around purely because of our ethics and morals. We all feel the same about the game.”

Horror stories of corruption and lack of professionalism in amateur football are well documented.

“People at the top encourage corruption. Where referees get paid or used to get paid, it means the chairman of a club or somebody is paying that referee.

“Unfortunately, among our own selves, there are people who are encouraging this type of dishonesty.”