SOWETAN SAYS | PSL must be transparent on Swallows

The sale of Moroka Swallows is yet another sad chapter in Premier Soccer League (PSL) football, especially after so much effort was made to ensure the club returned to the limelight after a long time in the doldrums.

Swallows’ premiership status – it has now been confirmed – has been bought by Marumo Gallants, who reportedly paid more than R40m in the acquisition.

Marumo confirmed in a statement that Swallows had been bought and the club would relocate to Bloemfontein. Unfortunately, the public hasn’t heard much about this transaction, making it seem highly questionable. 

Where are the details? What is going to happen to players who are still contracted by Swallows? Do they form part of the acquisition, and will their contracts be honoured? What about the employees and technical staff?

The PSL last had such a high-profile acquisition of a club by another when Royal AM purchased Bloemfontein Celtic’s status days before the start of the 2021/22 season. Players had to leave Free State that week and relocate to KwaZulu-Natal. Later, some complained about unpaid salaries and other funds owed, as Celtic had battled for years to honour financial obligations.

We hope such matters have been settled with the Marumo-Swallows transaction, but we are not too hopeful. Everything has been muddy, and the terse statements released by Marumo in the last week haven’t been helpful.

“Gallants will provide more details once staff and players have been addressed,” the club said, but they pleaded for more patience this week in another confusing statement. “We will respond to media queries at an upcoming press conference [details to be announced].”

Why announce the transaction while there are outstanding matters? But the big question is: where is the PSL in all this? Marumo have issued two statements already, while Swallows have spoken to the media through their management, who include Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi, confirming they had to sell due to financial constraints.

But the PSL has yet to say anything in this regard. It’s all left to clubs to make announcements which have far-reaching ramifications on the league’s standing.

It’s less than a month before action returns and, while the transfer window period opened this week, far too many players – not least those who used to play for Swallows – face an uncertain future.

It would be best if all the parties involved – Marumo, Swallows and the PSL – transparently addressed this matter in a joint press gathering.