The chickens have come home to roost, haven’t they? The PSL Board of Governors (BoG) sat last week, but there’s feeling that the meeting was coming.
The BoG sat to map the way forward on the future of Royal AM who were unable to fulfil their responsibilities as a club due to various reasons.
Royal AM haven’t played domestic football since late last year as they failed to honour fixtures due to unpaid salaries by the club.
The matter added more fuel to the fire as the club was already banned by FIFA from signing players due to the fact that they owed former players some monies.
The fire caught the wind as they were suspended indefinitely by the league due to the club’s curatorship by the South African Revenue Services (SARS).
Since then, there’ve been all sorts of reports and allegations as to what will happen to the games that have already been played by the team and are still to be scheduled later.
They were punished by the league as they removed them from the Nedbank Cup as they couldn’t honour their fixtures.
JUST IN | The Premier Soccer League’s Board of Governors has ratified the recommendation by the PSL executive committee to cancel Royal AM’s membership with immediate effect. Sports lawyer and PM Tshabalala Incorporated managing director, Mandla Tshabalala, explains. pic.twitter.com/zPiwZduHhe
— SABC News (@SABCNews) April 10, 2025
So such was the PSL’s reaction to the club’s inability to not be able to attend more teams, they, allegedly, decided to expel them for the remainder of the league season.
That decision will all mean that the league will have to make the points that were meant for them this season null and void.
Of course, finishing the season with only 15 clubs – from the usual 16 – is not what the PSL chairman Irvin Khoza had in mind as he believes that the league is a 16-team.
But such was the nature of the things that unfolded since Royal AM wanted a seat at the PSL main table – the top-flight – the executive committee must know this was coming.
Royal AM started by undermining the league, saying that they – and not Polokwane City – should have won automatic promotion to the elite league.
Boy, such was their nerves of steel – they didn’t pitch for the play-offs, ensuring that Chippa United retained their status.
And just when we thought all was steady, they contested that they should be crowned the champions via court – a case they duly failed and cost them.
It was then and then that the club took the easiest and costly route as they bought the status of the beloved Bloemfontein Celtic in the top-flight.
Their arrival in the top-flight, was of course, met with high expectations as Mkhize was known to be wealthy due to status.
But instead of plumbing all that cash into making sure the team is competitive, they flaunted the money around, including paying on the pitch bonuses.
Boy, thanks to the career of chairman – and the son of Mkhize – Andile Mpisane who’s a musician – their matches turned out to be parties as they bought sound speakers.
So for the team to be where they are at the moment was due to self-inflicted pains and wrongdoings as they couldn’t be able to respect the space.
But the PSL needs to understand that the easy route of buying statuses come at a cost, and that’s why they need to make better decisions.
