Cry, the beloved PLS

They have a lot to do to at least reach the minimum standards reached last season by the then CEO Zakhele Dlamini who within a space of 10 months had almost succeeded in improving the elite football mother body’s brand.

The former CEO succeeded in opening up the organisation to the people it served – the clubs and the general football loving public. Zakhele would always avail fixtures, charges, verdicts and statistics on yellow and red cards to the public through the media; hence there was less bad publicity then than now.

Four months after his quitting, the PLS has quickly lost its glittering Public Relations (PR), and it is a pity that nothing is being done to mend things. Before Zakhele came into office the secrecy in doing things was well tolerated but not now because there is now a precedent set by the last regime.

There is no more denying the fact that getting basic information such as yellow cards statistics which all over the world is something op-en to the public, is very hard with the current regime at the PLS.

The ac-ting CEO Zwelonke ‘Sport’ Dlamini, let me state that I do not have anything against him, but really the man is finding it very difficult to fill the void left by Zakhele. It is not clear whether, someone is suppressing him, or he has an agenda especially against the media, but the truth is that the manner in which he is running the office does not make things any good for the organisation.

This column has tried to warn him about his leadership qualities, but pity, things have not changed for the better.

While, I like ‘Mlilo’ as a person, but I do not approve of the way he runs the PLS office. His predecessor introduced a weekly media briefing where he delivered detailed reports of the weekend games, cards accumulated and players who have been nabbed by the yellow card rule.

He even presented a detailed gate collections’ report from all the games including the National First Division, and that was being transparent and accountable. Zakhele was able to take the Premier League to another level. He played a bigger role in wooing spectators into the game with the help of both the media and the teams. He realised that high spectatorship was very key in improving the standard of elite league football.

He is one man who had the wisdom to fixture Premier League football during the festive season, knowing very well that many people had money and the time to watch football. It worked wonders. However, without pre-empting anything, but at the rate things are done at the PLS, I do not foresee any games being played during the festive season. Last season, we lived, dreamt and ate football because the PLS had come to the party.

This season, the organisation has had to grapple with a number of problems pertaining to the fixturing of games. And just last week, the acting CEO went ahead and announ-ced the FixedFone Cup quarter-finals games, despite the fact that Mba-bane Midas City had openly made their intention to appeal the judgment of their DC case known. However, the office went ahead to issue a fixture that was cancelled five hours later. ‘Sport’ cannot afford to do things on his own. He needs to consult with key stakeholders which are the executive committee and the teams.

He must move out of his man-made shell and start interacting with people. It is time the retired referee realised that he is running a public office, and I want to believe this is the same mandate that his employers gave him when he assumed office. He was lucky to succeed someone who has laid the foundation for how to run the organisation, and his was simply improving from that. However, he strikes me like someone who has no clear mandate. By this time, the office should not be dealing with fixture problems. As the PLS’s face, ‘Sport’ has to portray a good image of the organisation to the public through the media.

I am definitely sure that the media in general is prepared to work with him; all that is left is for him to avail himself. Football they say is a sport of opinions and someone once told me that there is no lay man in soccer because almost everyone grew up either playing or following the sport.

The executive committee has a role of helping the acting CEO to take the organisation to another level. They have extended his reign already, but their decision might come back to haunt them if they do not do anything to normalise things.

They should know by now that the majority of the people have less interest in the internal football politics only if they do not affect the smooth running of the league. But when they allow the acting CEO to alienate the organisation from the public they will have unnecessary scandals to deal with.

On Friday, Dlamini made a startling revelation that Young Buffaloes’ Ndoda Mthethwa should not have featured against Royal Leopard on Wednesday night, because he had accumulated three yellow cards. He went on to state that the club should have confirmed with his office, when the same rules, also gives the PLS the right to suspend a player.

That is one case that cle-arly demonstrated the PLS’s inefficiency in dealing with sim-ple admi-nistrative issues.

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