Cape Town Tygerberg (CTTLFA) president Donovan Neilson (pictured) conceded that due to the uncertainty and unavailability of their incomplete registration cards, their union LFA needed to make a “blanket-call” and delay their 2024 season by another week.
No Bones with Jones is in possession of the notification sent out by the CTTLFA to its executive members confirming the delay by another week.
Neilson was hoping to kickstart their season from 6 April but that this has now been delayed to 10 April with the hope that the approximately 1700 registrations – which was submitted on 19 March – will be concluded on the agreed time frame between Safa Cape Town and the CTTLFA.
Neilson admitted that this delay is not ideal but that the situation is out of their control.
“It comes at a very wrong time of the season but there is nothing much that we can do about it,” Neilson explained to No Bones with Jones. “Look, we don’t control the cards and we don’t control the printing and that kind of thing.
“So, on face value it is a bit of an inconvenience to us as an LFA and I am pretty sure to many other LFA’s. Like I said, it is out of our control and what can we do?” Nielsen Neilson added.
It is no secret that Safa Cape Town seems to have a lot on its plate these days and given the number of registrations submitted by the CTTLFA, it will probably lead to long hours and late nights for the region’s admin staff.
There could also be a possibility that the CTTLFA might not have their full quota by next week, however Neilson stated that it is important not to pre-empt matters.
“We can only take it as it comes and right now we have been given a date, and that is the date that we are working towards with the hope that everything will be up and running from the 8th (April). So that is what we are working with and let’s hope it does get to that date.”
The registration of cards was in the past been a real challenge but the Mother body seemed to have got a grip on this issue in recent years.
Our website also understands that LFA’s such as Mitchells Plain LFA did their own registrations in the past which fast tracked the process and also lessened the load on the region.
According to Neilson their LFA printed their own cards “many moons ago” but those days are long gone.
“Straight up, the region is the one that does the registration and issues the cards,” Neilson further added. “Right now we don’t have too much of a problem with the system, because it’s the second year of the two-year registration and not as many registrations to do.
“In the past the system used wasn’t working and I think even Safa CT might acknowledge it. Last year because of the first year of a two-year registration, the turnaround time for cards for most players was a different system of processing which was put in place, a time slot allocation per LFA and to a degree it worked.
“I am not going to say we were 100 percent comfortable but, let’s put it this way the season got underway we got there and it worked to a degree and I don’t know if there was a better system that could have been dealt with used but the previous way it was handled was definitely not the way to be doing it.
“Again it is about managing the staff that is there and the people that are printing the cards. I am not going to throw Safa under the bus to say it didn’t work because in all fairness it worked as we didn’t have any major delays in our season last year,” the CTTLFA boss concluded.
Safa Cape Town’s acting General Secretary Reyaad Joseph was not available for comment.
