Publications
Partners
Orlando Pirates administrative manager Floyd Mbele says "people need football to survive" as he looks forward to the return of the Premier Soccer League.
All sporting activities have been suspended in South Africa for almost two months and while discussions over when to restart are ongoing, there is as yet no clear indication when football may resume.
The PSL will take its cues from government in the ongoing battle to curb the spread of the coronavirus, with the country slowly easing lockdown regulations.
A frustrated Mbele was reported on IOL as saying: "In Germany, they see football as a business and here in South Africa we treat it as social or part time (activity).
"We don't understand that there’s money involved in this business. The sooner we think that football is like any other business, the better.
"How is football different from running an Edgars store? You've got customers and you are selling a product.
"Customers can go to Gateway Mall (in Umhlanga in Durban) and they are trading. There's also risk at these stores. You go there and you try and see if something you want to buy fits you, and if it doesn’t you leave it and another person comes and touches that product.
"People need football to survive. If the government was giving us money like other African countries where football is run through the government and there were no sponsors, all of us can manage to wait until November but we can't."
- TEAMtalk media
