The SA Football Association (Safa) on Friday issued a strong statement to the National Soccer League (NSL) that the sponsorship agreement with OUTsurance is perfectly legitimate.
In the strongly-worded statement, Safa said “the NSL as an organisation is subordinate to Safa”.
Safa was responding to a letter circulating in media reports saying that the Premier Soccer League (PSL) sponsors were questioning a conflict of interest in Premiership matches if they were to wear OUTsurance kit.
In the statement Safa went on to say:
“It is not the NSL that runs and controls football in our country and that Safa is subordinate to the NSL. THIS MUST BE MADE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR.
“ … In respect of the matter of Referees‚ it must be made absolutely clear that in terms of the FIFA Statutes read with Article 46 of the Safa Statutes‚ refereeing is solely the responsibility of Safa.
“Above all in terms of Article 46.6 of the Safa Statutes‚ it is Safa that ‘appoints referees for all matches under the jurisdiction of Safa and its affiliates.
“In this respect Safa will continue to look at ways to serve the best interests of the match officials in our country in all of its games both at the amateur and professional level.
“… The agreement between OUTsurance‚ as a visionary partner and Safa‚ reflects Safa’s will to serve the best interests of our referees in our country so that the game of football is not only protected and developed but that it also grows from strength to strength.
“ … Having said this‚ in terms of the sponsorship agreement with OUTsurance‚ the referees who are appointed to the games of the league will commence wearing OUTsurance branded kit forthwith‚ and over time‚ this will be rolled out to all referees at all levels of the game.”