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TIME will tell whether the Cape District FA was correct in its recent correspon?dence to accuse the Greater Wynberg LFA (alias Southern Suburbs FA) of delibe?rately attempting to derail the CDFA by means of "shoddy backyard in the car boot administration".

The reference to car boot administration, of course, popped up in the letter that Elton Lotriet, the CEO of the CDFA, sent to Safa-Cape Town last week.

In brief, the CDFA expressed disappointment about the "unfair manner in which it is being treated" by Safa-CT and the GWLFA in the current demarcation stand-off involving the CDFA and GWLFA.

But back to the "car boot issue" that I believe has done more harm than good to the CDFA?s cause.

For the CDFA to say further in the letter: "We will not be forced to come down to their (GWLFA) level of administration" has increased tensions.

I am sure the GWLFA and the majority of CDFA members take strong exception to such utterances.

You see, there are thousands of soccer, rugby, cricket and softball players and administrators, among others, out there who recall and respect the invaluable roles played by past administrators, working tirelessly from their cars to keep sport alive under the banner of the old SA Council on Sport (Sacos) during the apartheid era.

Remember, for several decades there were no clubhouses to use for administrative work - even at the CDFA at the William Herbert sportsfield in Wynberg - on match days. The cars of the secretary, treasurer or trustee were used to run club affairs.

Notably, the CDFA's recent good fortune to acquire substantial funding from the Lotto Board and the subsequent influx of new clubs have improved their lot. But it gives CDFA no right right to treat their not-so-well-off soccer neighbours with contempt.

I vividly recall how those car boot huddles also prevailed at major provincial and national sports mee?tings across the country.

From the mid-1970s to '90s, these meetings were held in school and community halls (without diners and pubs to use during recesses).

These venues were utilised because Sacos forbade its members from applying for special permits to hold meetings at international hotels.

Inevitably, the cars were meeting places at lunch times for delegates to strategise and gather sensitive documentation that influenced proceedings afterwards. Another side to this scenario, I remember, is how some top officials and delegates influenced their potential backers by offering them a couple of swigs from the hot stuff, stuck away under the spare wheel. At times even some trusty reporters were called across to have a quick shot and to be filled in about the behind-the-scene moves in sport.

I assure you those manne knew their sport, their communities and their politics (no matter what ideology they supported).

The history books also show that the CDFA during its own car boot era was widely regarded as the bastion of Sacos, which fought any form of discrimination to bring about a free country.

So I am afraid the CDFA has shot itself in the foot by implying at a sensitive stage of the demarcation talks that the GWLFA and Southern Suburbs FA are sloppy car boot ope?rations.

By all means tell the SSFA that they have no right to usurp all the power, and insist they follow correct procedures in the negotiation process. But show respect, avoid belittling them and don't forget the past.

In my book, the CDFA's fight to retain its 77-year-old name is indeed justified. How can someone from the Safa office in Gauteng demand that you surrender your history without a fight?

But CDFA chairman, Winston Engledoe, please call in your life president Eric Dorman, life members like Roly Trout and long-serving members like Rashied Cloete (Blue Bells AFC) and Ron Abrahams (Crusaders AFC) to take up the cudgels.

Between them, Dorman and Trout carry close to 100 years of experience of the highs and lows of the CDFA.

These stalwarts are better equipped than some current CDFA exco members to address the main issues that are stalling negotiations.

Understandably, because of their short sporting careers, the new brigade appear lost when it comes to presenting the true facts of CDFA's proud history.

And Southern Suburbs FA? Albert Marais, who is faced with the daunting duel responsibility of heading the proposed GWLFA and looking after the SSFA's interests, needs to control some of his executive members, who tend to act like loose cannons in the current impasse.

This ain't the time to boast "We'll show them (CDFA) who laanies (bosses) are".

Or to needlessly hold back correspondence that the Safa-WP has decided to send via the GWLFA to the CDFA.

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