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Soccer's image ruined?
17/06/2007 16:42 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The Premier Soccer League's awarding of broadcasting rights to pay-television channel SuperSport could ruin football's image, Sport and Recreation Minister Makhenkesi Stofile said on Sunday.
"Sport is a national asset which must be accessible to all our people and this must not be inhibited by financial constraints or the urban-rural divide," he said.
Last week, the PSL awarded broadcasting rights for the next five-years to SuperSport in a R1bn deal which has been widely criticised.
The way in which the SABC and PSL had handled the matter was "less than mature", Stofile charged. "... In fact, we believe that they allowed personal egos to dictate how to deal with problems."
He said SuperSport could not be "blamed" for winning the broadcasting rights, but called on all involved to go back to the drawing board and find a viable way of making matches accessible.
"Games must be accessible and affordable to all," said Stofile.
The SA Communist Party has slammed the deal as "totally insensitive, if not outright provocative, to the millions of soccer-loving South Africans".
The Congress of SA Trade Unions said it meant matches would be broadcast "to only a small elite of rich TV viewers, while depriving millions of the working class and the poor the opportunity to watch their favourite sport".
In response, SuperSport International chief executive officer Imtiaz Patel said SuperSport intended working with the SABC and, or e.tv to ensure "a substantial portion" of local soccer was available free-to-air.
- SAPA
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