Every year it’s the same story with the new PSL fixtures.
We claim to have one of the best organised leagues in the world, yet we cannot even master the art of a fixture list.
Compare that to the best run league in the world: the Premier League in England.
The fixtures were out on June 14 already.
That’s only a month after the season had ended and it gives people time to book trips, plan their lives.
Even those around the world wanting to travel to Old Trafford or Anfield or elsewhere as millions do have the benefit of applying early and planning.
But here we are just over two weeks before the season is meant to get under way with the MTN8 and we still have no idea what’s going on when the league begins.
There was a ‘leaked fixture list’ on social media which gave us an idea of what could be but the PSL claimed that was an early draft.
Some of the games to look forward to in that leaked list included the Tshwane derby between SuperSport United and Mamelodi Sundowns, the champions Wits taking on Cape Town City on August 18th and the first Soweto derby is due for November 4.
But apparently that’s all set to change with the MTN8 quarterfinals due to take place on the first week of August.
How are teams even preparing for the new season if we don’t know when it starts?
A training program for pre-season will be tailored for four weeks or five weeks, Matsatsantsa and Orlando Pirates for example are still on leave due to the Nedbank Cup final being so late.
What if their whole planning for the new season is based on the league starting on a certain date only for it to actually be sooner?
There’s no reason to keep it a secret or to have it delayed like this. It only serves to complicates things for the fans and teams alike.
We should have had an automated system that decides fixtures based on a formula and then we would have had the fixtures confirmed long ago.