Rayaan Alie, tournament director of the Bayhill Premier Cup, has set the record straight regarding the registration cards used for the qualifying campaign of the under-19 Easter tournament.
This comes after much confusion and uncertainty regarding the validity of the registration cards used by some clubs. According to Alie the 2024 playing cards are still valid for the current season and are accepted at the playoffs.
“The 2024 cards are not valid at LFA level,” Alie explained to No Bones with Jones. However, the franchise season runs over a period which extends into 2024/2025. So, there are cards that read 2024 but are valid in the current playing season which ends in 2025,” Alie added.
Alie’s comments come after Bluegum United questioned the validity of their opponents’ playing cards at the penultimate round of qualifiers in Langa over the weekend. JL Zwane knocked out the team from Bonteheuwel by 1-0 to progress to the Round Robin group stages to be played at the William Herbert Sport Complex from 22 to 23 February.
Bluegum’s coach, an irate Aslam Baker, was left unimpressed as he felt there are different sets of rules that apply for different clubs.
“That is why I wrote a letter to Clive Bailey and the Bayhill committee stating my dissatisfaction,” Baker explained to No Bones with Jones: “Our first (qualifier) game back in January we were featured against Cape Town Football Athletic and they had to default as they still had 2024 cards and the rules of the playoffs clearly state that you must have 2025 cards.
“On Saturday… The organisers somehow allowed JL Zwane to play with their 2024 cards because we were told that the whole team is part of their Regional Men’s (Third Division) League team and that their league is ongoing therefore they were allowed to play. My question to the convenor (Clive Bailey) was…this is a different competition from the Regional Men’s League… How is this allowed? But he gave us two options only…we either play or we default.
“We ended playing as we did not want to default and have that on us. If I look back it was a subtle threat. Zwane scored in stoppage time of regulation time (60 minutes) and we were knocked out – but how fair is this,” Baker concluded.
Regarding Bluegum’s query Alie replied: “This first instance where the team couldn’t play we required the teams to have 2025 cards and Safa CT opened up their registration on the 1 November (2024) for teams to go and do their new registration for the year 2025.
“Then also before we started our playoffs in January they opened their office a little bit earlier and teams were allowed to register for the 2025 season. So, if you played in an LFA team like Cedar United or Bayhill United then your 2024 card which was valid in the previous year would not have been valid for 2025 – if that makes sense.
Alie further explained: “So, for example, if a team arrived and said we don’t have 2025 cards or our LFA didn’t register us in time, then that is not our fault as we know Safa CT was open for registration from the 1 November to somewhere in December. That is LFA and non-franchise teams that are out of the way.”
Regarding the Hollywoodbets Third Division side, Alie stated that they use the logical rationale for the registration process.
“In this instance a Hollywoodbets Regional card, so it says 2024 for argument’s sake… because the season runs from 2024 into 2025, that card is current so the card doesn’t display the year. However, on the ABC Motsepe card you see 2024/’25 so it clearly shows the 2024 and 2025 validity of that particular card. But there are years where Safa CT for example printed 2023/24 – and this year it’s probably 2024/’26 cards – and I speak under correction. But they do a two-year registration.
“However, in the franchise leagues it works a little differently as one is with Safa Western Cape and the other one with the region. If there is any confusion and contestation it would then be the fact that the card reads 2024.
“Now let’s say we took a 2024 card and the people’s argument is valid. Shouldn’t it have read 2024/25, then shouldn’t that card have read 2023/’24. Hence our argument was if all the cards we received say 2024 and it shows everything of Safa on it then it is deemed to us to be valid because the season is running from 2024 up to 2025.
“In fact the registration for those additional registration is closing today at Safa CT to add more players to their respective squads. Now you will have the 2025 cards as it is in the year 2025, but it should in fact be as simple as just printing 2024/’25 for everybody for the current season that is running over from 2024 to 2025,” Alie concluded.
