KZN clubs told to fence off pitches, hire coaches with CAF C licences
'Unrealistic' new rules for third tier slammed
A mandatory CAF C licence for head coaches and fenced fields to separate spectators and players, are some of the stringent requirements Safa KZN wants ABC Motsepe League teams to meet in the new season.
The rather onerous proposed regulations, communicated to all the third-tier teams in the province via a memo Sowetan saw this week, are not feasible, according to Mkhokhiseni Mpanza, who owns Msinga United – one of the clubs Safa fingered for poor spectator behaviour in the previous term.
"I think it will be difficult for teams to meet all these regulations. Safa can demand that we meet the requirements but that most clubs don't have sponsors will make things difficult. If you hire a coach with a CAF C licence and he demands a salary of R30,000, what must happen? Even this thing of fencing the fields is not practical because most of the stadiums are owned by municipalities. This won't work at all,'' Mpanza told Sowetan yesterday.
Fans clad in Msinga's green colours clashed with security personnel at the end of their national play-offs' semifinal defeat to Orbit College early this month at Harry Gwala Stadium, Pietermaritzburg, where multiple gunshots were fired. Mpanza still maintains pitch invasions are normal, arguing security people are the ones who fired shots.
"We don't condone what happened at Harry Gwala but it's a normal thing that the fans invade the pitch. Those gunshots were fired by the security guys, not the fans,'' Mpanza said.
Safa KZN chairperson Kwenzakwakhe Ngwenya admitted they may relax some of the requirements should the teams give them reasons to, in their pre-season meeting scheduled for some time next month.
"We are going to have a pre-season meeting with the clubs. We'll see what's doable and what's not but we really want to implement all these requirements to make sure that our games are a safe place and coaches see it important to upskill themselves. I have no doubt that in KZN we have enough coaches with CAF C licences. More than 60 coaches have CAF C license in this province,'' Ngwenya explained.
Other proposed regulations are that assistant coaches must have at least Safa D licences and all people in the technical area must be registered with MYSAFA (an official and only Fifa-integrated football player registration and competition management system).