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/ 16 November 2007

Wanted: A PSL payout agreement

Premier Soccer League CEO Kjetil Siem may not be at the receiving end of the league’s R70-million commission payout controversy, but his wish to see a conclusion to the continuous saga and move on — because it ruins both the sponsor’s and the league’s commercial reputation — will not be granted any time soon.

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/ 12 November 2007

Of critics with short memories

I will not hold it against you if you read this and think it is about football. But it is not. Last week the Premier Soccer League’s board of governors decided to pay some of their number a once-off R70-million gratuity, with luck ending months of speculation over payments to individuals instrumental in getting football’s sponsorship to top the R1-billion mark.

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/ 31 October 2007

PSL to pay soccer bosses R70m

The Premier Soccer League (PSL) has set aside R70-million with which to pay members as a ”token of gratitude” for their part in securing rights and sponsorship deals. The amount would be ”apportioned to the members of the negotiating team and other role players” and would be a one-off payment.

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/ 26 October 2007

Young, gifted and bad

Oom Os du Randt — the Springbok loosehead prop — is one of the most experienced sports stars in the country. At the ripe old age of 35 and with two World Cup winners’ medals around his neck, he has a lot to pass on to younger players, especially those who do not know how to handle success and end up in self-destruct mode.

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/ 16 October 2007

Fifa satisfied with 2010 Cup progress

A senior Fifa official gave his seal of approval on Tuesday to South Africa’s preparations for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, playing down concerns about stadium construction after a recent strike. ”I am satisfied with the general preparations,” Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke said.

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/ 3 October 2007

Involve players in commission debates, says union

The Premier Soccer League (PSL) should involve players’ unions in their deliberations on commission for television and sponsorship, the South African Football Players’ Union said on Wednesday. The PSL has come under fire this week over claims that it intends paying internal negotiators 10% commissions on a R1,6-billion television rights deal and a R500-million sponsorship deal.

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/ 3 October 2007

PSL says no commission paid (yet)

Premier Soccer League (PSL) executive members have not been paid commission for their part in the R1,6-billion television rights deal or the R500-million Absa sponsorship deal. The PSL had not even formally decided yet whether it would pay its negotiators any commission at all, said chairperson Irvin Khoza.

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/ 2 October 2007

No commissions paid, says Khoza

Premier Soccer League (PSL) members have not been paid any commission from the television broadcasting and Absa sponsorship deals, PSL chairperson Irvin Khoza said on Tuesday. Indeed, the issue of the payment of commissions had not even been finalised yet, he told reporters in Johannesburg.

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/ 1 October 2007

PSL commission payments in spotlight

It has been described by one newspaper as ”splitting the Premier Soccer League [PSL] down the middle.” But what Finance Minister Trevor Manuel described as ”morally reprehensible” commission payments amounting to hundreds of millions of rands to PSL officials has seemingly united 45-million South Africans in outraged opposition to the professional soccer organisation.

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/ 26 September 2007

Absa becomes main sponsor of PSL

South African banking giant Absa is the title sponsor of the Premier Soccer League (PSL). This was announced on Wednesday at South African Breweries’ World of Beer offices in Newtown, Johannesburg. The five-year deal, worth R500-million, was concluded on Tuesday night.

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/ 14 September 2007

A giant leap backwards for SA soccer

A lack of sponsorship and an insufficient number of clubs from coastal areas have set the football National First Division about four years back. Club officials this week reluctantly accepted a proposal by the Premier Soccer League to divide it into two different leagues, known as the Coastal and Inland Streams, thereby robbing it of its national identity.

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/ 28 August 2007

Coach brushes aside problems at Pirates

Looking at Bibey Mutombo on the soccer sidelines and the resemblance between the Orlando Pirates coach and the sphinx of ancient Egypt is almost uncanny. And even amid the despair and downright indignation among many in the Buccaneers camp over some insipid performances this season, the coach remains inscrutable.