As the PSL celebrated the arrival of a second sponsor in days this week, one couldn’t help but wonder if these financial gains would help ease the pain some footballers have been subjected to of late.

Carling Black Label joined the Motsepe Foundation in pumping money into the domestic game which, as a result of Covid, saw some corporates pull out. Like every aspect of society, football suffered dearly with reduced salaries, culled squads and frugal expenses exacerbated by the prolonged ban of fans from stadiums.

But despite the known challenges, some local clubs have behaved in a dishonest manner, especially towards their playing personnel.

This week, we reported the sad story of Matome Mathiane, who arrived for preseason at Golden Arrows only to be told his services were no longer required.

Mathiane had played for Arrows – a club owned by the PSL’s long-acting CEO Mato Madlala – in their last match on May 24 and headed into the offseason without being told if his contract, which was to expire on June 30, would be extended.

He duly reported back to training on June 27. It was only then that he found out he was no longer employed.

Whatever Arrows’ reasons for letting Mathiane go, it’s unfair and unjustifiable to tell him so late. But we have come to see many such cases, not least this year, where players lose employment en masse.

This practice is now becoming so entrenched that it’s surely flouting normal labour legislation. Teams certainly have the right to terminate contracts of non-performers and regularly refresh their squads. They cannot be expected to keep in their employ people who are surplus to requirements. Players who hardly get a look-in for selection also need to look elsewhere for game-time. It’s the nature of the game.

But telling players they won’t be needed just weeks – or days as in Mathiane’s case – before their contracts lapse, is deeply inhumane.

There’s a reason why players are allowed to enter into pre-contracts with preferred suitors in the last six months of their contracts. But even when they do this, they get volatile treatment. Siyethemba Sithebe was ostracised by AmaZulu for having entered into a pre-contract with Kaizer Chiefs back in January, and never got to play competitive football for six months.

The same AmaZulu released no fewer than 15 players last month, including the likes of Luvuyo Memela who was almost a permanent fixture in their lineup. Had Memela concluded a deal with another team six months ago, there’s no doubt he would have received the same treatment as Sithebe.

Chances are, he could well have turned down potential suitors, seeing the hostility with which his teammate was treated. But like many, Memela now has to scramble for employment elsewhere, discarded unexpectedly by a club who used him in 25 of their 30 league games last season.

Effectively, one-year contracts have now become the norm in the PSL, with the market flooded by club-hopping rejects who at times forego monies owed to them by clubs, in order to secure a salary elsewhere.

This will not improve our football one bit, as some players need more than a year to truly establish themselves. Others suffer the misfortune of injury before even getting proper opportunities, and clubs decide to cruelly release them while aware they would not be able to play for sometime. 

We hope with corporates again finding reason to invest in this game, our clubs would treat their main characters – the players – as proper professionals rather than a commodity that can be dispensed with at anytime.