Corruption rife in SA soccer claims Lovegrove

By George Byron

MILLIONAIRE soccer boss Tony Lovegrove has hit out at corruption which he claims is rife in South African soccer with referees and linesmen openly cheating to influence the outcome of crucial professional league matches.
Bay Stars owner Lovegrove, whose team narrowly missed out on the chance to represent Nelson Mandela Bay in the First Division next season, came out firing, saying the corruption needed to be exposed for the good of the game.
In an exclusive interview with Weekend Post,  Lovegrove  claimed that:

* Support staff and players are “bombarded” with offers to throw matches;

* Protesting questionable decisions will ensure match officials will be even more biased;

* There is no auditing of referees’ performances by top-level South African Football Association (Safa) officials;

* Clubs often field “illegal” players [a player who is not registered with the league, for example]; and

* Referees turn a blind eye to poor field conditions in lower leagues, if it happens to be the referee’s “preferred” team’s home ground

Lovegrove is not alone in his concern about the effects of widespread corruption in the sport with high-ranking Safa official Boya Chetty confirming  that a top-level investigation into bribery and corruption was currently  under way.
“I am a member of Safa’s protocol and security committee and we are currently investigating bribery and corruption at all levels of South African soccer,” Chetty said.
“Our findings will be released in due course.”
Lovegrove and  fellow Stars owner Yusuf Adams ploughed R3.2-million into their team last season which played in the Vodacom League.
However Lovegrove believed  the only reason the team  failed to be  promoted was because the “referees are all powerful”.
Citing the example of Stars having no fewer than 13 goals disallowed during the season, he said:   “In the Vodacom League there was absolutely no consistency when it comes to refereeing.
“This makes winning games exceptionally difficult.  The interpretation by officials of the rules is inconsistent in itself and there is no auditing from senior officials at Safa.  This ultimately translates into each ref having absolute power to dictate the outcome of games.”
Lovegrove said players and support staff were also often approached with offers to take a bribe.
“Both our players and technical staff have come to me on occasions to highlight that they have been approached to influence a game.  The owners are very rarely approached in this league, but the support staff and players are bombarded with offers to throw games.”
Lovegrove said his club had approached the regional office of Safa with their complaints, but it had not helped to eradicate the problem.
“In spite of the regional office of Safa being very sympathetic, it unfortunately does not go further.”
Lovegrove said his club had on several occasions asked Safa to address important strategic matters at a higher level to combat this issue.
However Safa Eastern Cape provincial secretary Isaac Klaas said his organisation had never received any complaints regarding the conduct of referees from Bay Stars.

This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday July 14 2012. 

Kings’ hopes dangling by a thread

By Ethienne Arends and Yolandé Stander

EP RUGBY president Cheeky Watson has lashed out at the South African Rugby Union for again delaying the decision on how the Southern Kings will be accommodated in Super Rugby next year, saying the move could scupper the franchise before a ball has even been kicked.
Saru undertook to make the announcement on July 13, but this week reneged once again by delaying the decision to an as yet unspecified date.
And in a further blow for the prospects of top-class international sport in Nelson Mandela Bay it emerged this week that the city could be stripped of its status as an African Cup of Nations (Afcon) host city because of  the local municipality’s financial woes.
Although Safa claims no official decision has been made, sources close to the decision-making process have confirmed this could happen.
Saru’s unexpected decision to postpone the July 13 meeting was confirmed to Weekend Post by media manager  Rayaan Adriaanse,  who said  Saru did not want to comment “on the participation process of Super Rugby 2013 at this stage”.
While Saru had assured the Kings they would be in next year’s Super Rugby competition, there was still uncertainty because the organisation was refusing to say how this would come about.
In addition, Saru was also refusing to guarantee the Kings more than one season in Super Rugby.
In an exclusive interview this week, an incensed Watson said “this uncertainty and the fact that we are guaranteed only one season in Super Rugby is making it impossible for us to sign up a major sponsor”. 
“We have just over six months to go before Super Rugby kicks off and we do not have a sponsor. It’s ridiculous and it’s all due to Saru’s inability to reach a decision on how to accommodate the Kings and which franchise will fall by the wayside,” Watson said.
He said the Kings were already targeting eight current Super Rugby players to sign up for the franchise, but this was proving impossible without funding.
Two weeks ago,  the Nelson Mandela Bay council also voted to reduce the city’s sports development budget from R20-million to zero, cutting its funds for Eastern Province Rugby and effectively killing plans to bring a PSL soccer team to Port Elizabeth.
That decision now also suggests the metro simply will not have the financial capacity to host the Afcon tournament next year.
In a meeting with National Treasury and the Department of Sport  in June 2012, it was made clear  Nelson Mandela Bay would have to provide a guarantee for the funding of the event, failing which it could lose the hosting rights.
In the municipality’s economic development and recreational  services report, director Zolile Siswana mentioned that National Treasury had made it clear  Nelson Mandela Bay did not even have R6-million to contribute.
Currently the metro would need to source between R14-million and R17-million of taxpayers’ money to host the event.
When asked whether Nelson Mandela Bay would still be hosting Afcon games, Siswana said “that matter is still to be considered and discussed”.
Safa Nelson Mandela Bay region  president Mzimkhulu Fina said no decision had been made to take away the metro’s host city rights, but added there were concerns around funding.

This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday July 7 2012. 

Slap in the face for local soccer talent

By Shaun Gillham

BAY Stars managing director and businessman Tony Lovegrove has slammed a move by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality – in particular Mayor Zonoxolo Wayile – to buy Premier Soccer League (PSL) team Maritzburg United as a slap in the face for local football development.
An angry Lovegrove said on Friday that politicians and officials “did not care about the great talent in their own back yard” and were demonstrating that they did not think locals were “good enough”.
Municipal spokesman Kupido Baron confirmed the initiative, which insiders told Weekend Post will cost the metro R30-million in relocation costs alone.
“I can confirm that the municipality is in the advanced stages of negotiations with Maritzburg United Football Club. This is towards maintaining the sustainability of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium,” Baron said.
According to a source close to the deal, Wayile instructed Nelson Mandela Bay Development Agency Pierre Voges to negotiate with Maritzburg United and that the deal had to be closed before May 18 or 19 due to a Safa deadline dictating the cut-off date by which clubs have to declare their home stadiums.
According to another source, the team might not even be permanently based in the region, but would simply be “rented for some PSL games”.
The new development comes as a massive blow to Bay Stars, which was created out of the former Bay Academy Football Club with extensive financial backing from local business and with the aim of representing the metro in the PSL within three years.
 Lovegrove believed a contract signing with Maritzburg was imminent.
He said Bay Stars was formed after Safa contacted local businessmen to assist in the former Bay Academy team. “We looked at the PSL model and we formed a team, which has full technical support, with the aim of getting it into the PSL in three years. We’ve done all the right things; put all the correct structures and support systems in place. We had an MOA [memorandum of agreement] with the mayor, who publicly supported the team and its aims, and we are on track to develop this team, which has great talent,” Lovegrove said.
Lovegrove questioned why tens of millions would potentially be spent on importing a franchise when they had battled to get R4-million worth of repairs done to the team’s home ground, the Wolfson Stadium.

This is a shortened version of an article that first appeared in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday May 12, 2012.