No Pirates for Telkom Charity Cup
Brad Morgan
29 July 2005
Johannesburg's FNB Stadium hosts the Telkom Charity Cup on Saturday. Mamelodi Sundowns. Kaizer Chiefs, Black Leopards, and Bloemfontein Celtic will battle it out for the silverware.
Missing from the line-up, controversially, is Orlando Pirates, who recently beat Chiefs to win the Vodacom Challenge Cup, and finished second to the Amakhosi in last season's PSL.
The four contestants are decided by a vote of the public whereby each telephone call made registers a vote. Every call also means a donation to charity.
A weakness
However, the system has a weakness. People may vote as many times as they wish for the team they want to see because there is no monitoring system to prevent anyone doing that. While it is good news for charity, it proved to be bad news for Pirates, who although they are probably the second most popular team in South Africa behind Kaizer Chiefs, finished only fifth in the voting.
Orlando
Pirates' owner Irvin Khoza came straight out and said the system was being abused. However, Tshipfiwa Thidiela, the brand manager of Black Leopards, hit back at the "Iron Duke", saying Khoza should not complain when he is one of the men who designed the format for the competition. Thidiela said just because Chiefs and Pirates could fill the FNB Stadium on their own, they shouldn't be guaranteed a place in the charity event.
There has been some support for his point of view. Callers into national radio shows on which the system was debated said there are plenty of competitions that happen each season and questioned why Chiefs or Pirates should believe they have a right to inclusion in the Telkom Charity Cup.
Most votes
For the record, Bloemfontein Celtic garnered the most votes, with 164 343. Mamelodi Sundowns, the defending champions, finished in second spot with 163 789. Next came Black Leopards with 163 621, and in fourth spot Kaizer
Chiefs with 157 560. Charity scored, Orlando Pirates did not.
Former PSL public relations officer, Abdul Bhamjee, once the face of football in South Africa, and the man behind the charity event, says Chiefs and Pirates should always be included in the competition because the day is meant to be one of celebration, fun, and festivities, and the stands should be full.
He believes the current voting system should be dumped and replaced by a system that includes Chiefs, Pirates, the current PSL champions, and the Absa Cup holders. In the case of Chiefs or Pirates being the holders of either of the titles, the next highest-placed team in the standings should replace them.
As far as the footballing spectacle goes, many would support Bhamjee's idea. But, what about raising money for charity? That was, after all, the original idea behind the event. It’s a debate that could continue for some time yet.
The games
Saturday's showpiece will
see 50 charities benefiting from the three games: Sundowns versus Leopards at 10:00, followed by Chiefs versus Celtic at 12:00, and the final at 16:00.
Apart from the revenue generated by the voting system, more money will be raised at the gate, where R35 will get fans a full day's worth of top class soccer viewing.
In 2004, the Telkom Charity Cup raised R2.6-million for charity. That meant 34 charities received R70 000 each. A further 16 organisations, nominated by the Premier Soccer League clubs, received R15 000 each.
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