The  last day of June is dreaded by many professional footballers as it often marks the end of their contracts, leaving them in limbo with their futures hanging in the air.

South African Football Players Union (Safpu) vice-president and former professional footballer Tebogo Monyai painted a picture of why this off-season period is difficult for players who lose employment, especially those from relegated clubs.

“It comes with a lot of players losing work through different formats, one being relegations from the PSL and NFD. Only a few will be absorbed from the number of players contracted, but the bulk of the squad is bound to lose their employment,” Monyai told Sowetan. 

“It’s a difficult time for players – to say where to from here – because some have families to feed and kids that are going to school. This month is their last month of employment, and of getting paid,” he said. 

The unemployment rate in SA is among the highest in the world. A lot of sectors find it hard to provide jobs and football is in the same boat, with a minority making it to the professional ranks.

“The unemployment rate is very high in the country, we know, but in football it’s worse. If you look at the numbers, they don’t accommodate everyone in terms of the teams in the league,” he said

“A lot of players now are waiting on the list to see if they can go on trials with other teams, looking for employment. We have been fighting as a union, we proposed to the league to increase the number of teams from 16 to 18 in both divisions because that will create a pool of players to be absorbed within the professional league,” said the former University of Pretoria captain. 

A silver lining for Safpu is that there will be teams looking to bolster their squads for the upcoming season – according to Monyai this means employment for the players. 

“I know many people cry foul when teams like Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates have a squad of 60 or 70 players,” Monyai said.

“It’s not an ideal situation to have but for us as a union it’s a plus because these clubs create employment for our players, they employ our players. For that reason, we don’t have a problem with teams having a lot of players on their books, as long as our members are getting paid.”