It’s All System Go For the MRL Second Round

As we brace ourselves for the second round of the MRL season, we regret that there are still first-round fixtures that require attention. A combination of factors contributed to this, including office error, match officials’ overreach, and club errors. The following fixtures are affected in the following ways:

To ensure that these incidents are reduced, the following will happen:

Operational Efficiencies

The second round has been published on the association’s website. Every Monday, clubs will submit their requests for changes in times and/or venues. To expedite this process, such communications will proceed in the official Chat Groups, ensuring that all affected parties see the changes as they are requested, approved, and implemented. This will be followed by the Tuesday PDF, which will also be posted by the Operations Officer on the same official chat groups.

Going forward, the following shall be a performance breach:

1. If the Operations Officer fails to acknowledge, approve/reject, and effect the request for change of time and/or venue by Monday,
2. If the Operations Officer fails to submit the PDF to the relevant chat groups by Tuesday.
3. If the Operations Officer makes any changes to the fixtures after the deadline.
4. If the Operations Officer makes changes without making them transparent in the chat group.

To ensure that the above standards are perpetual and consistent, these shall be embedded in operations through a Standard Operating Procedure, which will be published on the association’s website and included in the Operations Officer’s Performance Agreement.

Officiating Standards

On the 23^rd of February 2026, the office will meet with the Referees Committee to discuss and rectify, among other things, the quality of match officiating, including ensuring that the match officials know and understand their boundaries of power. Feedback will be provided thereafter.

Some of the items to be discussed are:

1. Working towards an approved roster of match officials who can officiate regional matches, and how to ring-fence them.
2. Registration of Match Officials on MySAFA, and the use of only registered ones,
3. Match Officials’ qualifications, and how to attain those qualifications,
4. Powers of the Match Officials
5. Cost of match officials’ errors and accountability for those.
6. Match Summaries and Match Incident Reports
7. Payment of Referees

We are also planning a referees workshop on the 1st of March 2026 in preparation for the commencement of the WRL, WPL, and TRDL leagues. This date might shift, though, as the regional association will also be hosting the under-16 boys’ and girls’ selections.

The Second Round

The Second Round will start in earnest on the 28^th of February 2026. Familiarise yourselves with the fixtures on the home page of our website, on this link: https://tshwanerfa.org.za/

Mamelodi All Stars and Zwashu Academy have opened a huge gap on stream A.

Similarly, Spartans and Titans have also opened a considerable gap on stream B.

Will they sustain their leads throughout the second half of the season? It remains to be seen. One pressure point we exert on them is that whoever wins the overall league must proceed to the playoffs.

God’s strength to all the teams that participate in the league. May they all have the strength to gain ground and complete the league season without any incidents. Extra strength also to Hammer Boys, Guardians, Empire, and Biazo (all Stream A) and Centurion Blues, Juventus, and Rovers (Stream B) as they linger in the relegation zone.

Please note: The registration window has been opened from the 20th to the 28th of February 2026. Clubs are advised to make the most of this window.

For this second round, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!