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Former Ajax Cape Town striker Nathan Paulse has proposed a solution to the Premier Soccer League (PSL) for how the domestic leagues can conclude following the stop of all football in the country due to the coronavirus.
South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a national lockdown in order to help curb the spread of the deadly Covid-19 virus.
The lockdown was set to end on April 16 with but has since been extended until the end of the month.
The extension has raised questions whether the 2019/20 Absa Premiership season and the various lower leagues will be able to be completed before the next campaign kicks off – usually at the start of August.
However, with 84 games left to play in the current Premiership campaign, Paulse has proposed that the PSL increase the number of teams in each league to make it fair.
"I want us to continue from where we left off, but the reality of this is not going to suit what we want, there are far too many complications with a prolonged season which boils down to contracts of players and clubs because contracts don’t cater for these issues," said Paulse, as quoted by the official Ajax website.
"What do you do if a player must leave by June, but you need him for promotion or relegation? If you look at the other solution of just promoting and relegating those teams as they stand then you face angry team owners.
"In my humble opinion, ask yourself what’s the argument here, so I would push the teams to 18 in the league with no relegation, by doing so you allow Ajax Cape Town up to the top stream and you let three teams from second to fourth in the GladAfrica Championship fight out promotion for the other spot in the Absa Premiership for next season.
"That will free up two spots at the bottom - then you take all the first-placed teams in the ABC into the normal promotion playoffs. Is it a perfect solution? Maybe not, but none of them are, this just solves a small area of argument which is who gets relegated and who gets promoted."
- TEAMtalk media
