Chronicle Editor
The Premier Soccer League (PSL) has announced that the Absa Premiership will remain suspended in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic.
In a Press conference in Johannesburg on Thursday, the PSL board upheld their decision made earlier in the week to suspend all soccer in the country.
PSL chairperson Irvin Khoza confirmed that the board of governors of the organisation agreed that the seaon must come to an end by “no later than 30 June.”
“The board of governors, which was led by all teams of the Premier Divsion and GladAfrica Championsip, resoved that NSL values the lives of our stakeholders,” said Khoza.
“We initially said that we will complete the season by no later than 30 June, but we shall remain flexible. We will take all possible measures in line with State President and national government.
“We initially said that we will complete the season by no later than 30 June, but we shall remain flexible. We will take all possible measures in line with State President and national government,” he added.
Kaizer Chiefs are currently leading the Absa Premiership on 48 points. Amakhosi are looking for their first league title since the 2014/15 season.
Meanwhile, An icon of South African soccer during his playing career and the founder, owner and coach of Jomo Cosmos in a football career stretching more than 50 years, Jomo Sono, nicknamed “The Black Prince”, is currently threatened with abdication from all PSL League competitions.
The stark and ignominious prospect intensified over the past weekend when Cosmos were beaten by Mbombela United, fellow relegation candidates from the PSL’s subsidiary GladAfrica Championship, which could result in banishment to mainly amateur SAFA competitions in order to continue in soccer – if at all!
Cosmos presently occupy second bottom place in the GladAfrica log and are thereby positioned in the two spots designated for relegation.
Sono, however, always the optimist, not only dismisses the possibility of GladAfrica relegation, but vows to return the PSL’s Absa Premiership, where his club achieved numerous notable honours after purchasing Highlands Park’s NPSL franchise in 1982, before a series of snakes-and-ladders relegations and promotions culminated in the present demotion plight three seasons go.
“I would not continue to be involved in soccer if I did not believe in the club,” says the Cosmos supremo about achieving a revival “after the grim virus plight affecting the game worldwide abates.”
Sono’s confidence, nonetheless, is not fraught without its difficulties, notably among them that the club has never been able to secure a suitable, permanent home ground for games – and, despite “The Black Prince’s” widespread popularity during his playing career with Orlando Pirates, he has not been able to transfer similar emotions among fans on a large extent for his club.
Also, some have suggested Cosmos would benefit from Sono divorcing his omnipotent ownership and coaching commitments by appointing someone else to handle the on-the-field coaching department. – Sport24.
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