13 Jan 2014

Chairpersons of the 16 premier league clubs have expressed their concern over the five per cent that is deducted by the BFA from the P200 000 grants they get from the television rights deal.

The chairpersons echoed the sentiments during an annual general meeting of the premier league in Palapye on Saturday. They asked why the BFA should be deduct the five per cent ,which it claimed was for development because as far as they knew, development fees  should come from FIFA.

Some of the chairpersons who could not hide their concerns said the five per cent should at least be channeled to teams that had development sides because the association did not help teams when it came to development.

Still on the TV rights deal, they expressed their disappointment towards the board saying it did not take them seriously because in most cases the board always renegaded on the decisions and action plans agreed upon during general meetings.

They also challenged the BFA to put its house in order as they cited poor communication and these came after they learnt during the meeting that the TV rights negotiations were ultimately taken over by the National Executive Committee.

The BPL board chairman, Mike Molefe, tried in vain to explain that there was no time to engage representatives of the teams in the whole process prior to signing the deal but acknowledged the shortfall and promised that in future they would make it a point that all stake holders were engaged so as to get new ideas and blessings.

Meanwhile teams from the north and some from the south complained of what they termed unfair live coverage by the national broadcaster and pointed out that it seemed like some teams were given priority over others even though they all plied their trade in the same league.

The BPL CEO, Bennett Mamelodi informed delegates that it was an open secret that the broadcaster had since put it forward that lack of resources and capacity were  the main obstacles when it came to broadcasting games live in the north, adding that as such they were could not travel to the north. ENDS