Union plea to postpone Downs vs Chiefs *Posted:* 2011-04-28 16:19
*The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) has called on the PSL to delay the crucial League match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs to allow workers, soccer players and sports journalists to attend May Day celebrations.* The celebrations, organised by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), will be held across the country on Sunday, the same day the two title-chasing sides meet at Loftus Versfeld Stadium. Numsa argues that the Chiefs/Sundowns clash, one of the most followed matcehs in the PSL calendar, “cannot be allowed to coincide with May Day celebrations”. “It is our contention that soccer is mainly supported by the workers in our country and such an important game cannot be allowed to coincide with May Day celebrations,” Numsa national spokesman Castro Ngobese says. “The scheduled kick-off time of 3pm might have a negative impact in terms of attendance of May Day celebrations around Gauteng, scheduled to be addressed by the political and trade union leaders of our country.” The organisation argues that the PSL must be an "activist League" that is not detached from the worker. “The PSL should draw a leaf from its predecessors, the NPSL and NSL, by using football as a strategic site of popular power for people’s power to rally society around their immediate and long-term strategic goals geared towards a better life for all,” adds Numsa. “The PSL should not be a sporting instrument of the ruling class to water down working class struggles in a post-apartheid capitalist South Africa. "We call on the PSL to delay the crucial League match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs until late evening so that workers attending May Day celebrations can be able to attend or watch the match from the comforts of stadium grandstands or their homes. “If the PSL adheres to this request it will be a victory for the majority of workers who are the real custodians of football in our country, as opposed to the PSL chasing half-time adverts or broadcasting profit embedded spin-offs.” Mxolisi Ncube -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
