The last post on this website asked a question: were we ready to commence the WRL and TRDL Leagues? The kick-off was on the 18th of April 2026. And indeed the kick-off took place. Congratulations on the 2026 cohort; the train is moving!
We must be quick to say the kick-off of the 2026 season was not the smoothest. In fact, there were teething problems. And these are still the talking points to this day, although measures are being taken to rectify them.
The Registration Fees for TRDL and WRL
Introducing a central fee management system was not easy. Some people still see the fees as an escalation of costs, and some even link them to the association’s efforts to recover from the 2025 theft. This is not correct. All that has happened is based on economic and financial compliance principles. Operationally, there are optimisation principles such as many-to-one and one-to-many. This means that if there is a process that can be managed for many objects in one place, let it be so; that way, efficiencies are achieved by releasing many to do what they are good at, rather than forcing many to do the same thing in multiple places inconsistently.
So the cost of football, especially for registrations (players and officials) and match officiating, will be reported as such in the regional association’s profit and loss statement, in compliance with SARS requirements. And they will be registered as one-off costs by the clubs, under registrations.
In the long term, all stakeholders will realise that this change was beneficial not only to the association but also to all parties concerned. And I am sure that institutions like the University of Pretoria, the University of South Africa, Sefako Makgatho University, Tshwane University of Technology, Rosina Sedibane, Curro Thatchfield, etc., are already beginning to experience administrative, accounting, and reporting relief from this change. In good time, all other clubs will see the benefit.
In April, after reviewing the number of clubs that registered with TRDL and WRL, we also reviewed the registration fees as promised. For TRDL, the registration fee was R25,000.00, aimed at 32 clubs. With only 27 clubs, the fee was reviewed to R24,000.00. Similarly, for WRL, the registration fee was R12,500.00, with a target of 32 teams. With only 22 teams registered, the fee was reviewed to R9,500.00. The credit notes were effected accordingly. These revisions do not change the prizes or their values.
However, we have noted greater acceptance of the changes in the registration fee model. Important in this is the payment control regime, which is a bit complex to manage. We have given TRDL clubs 5 months to pay, and WRL clubs 4 months to pay.
For TRDL | Minimum accumulation of the registration fees must be maintained as follows:
- Month 1 – 20% of the affiliation paid
- Month 2 – 40% of the affiliation paid
- Month 3 – 60% of the affiliation paid
- Month 4 – 80% of the affiliation paid, and
- Month 5 – 100% of the affiliation paid.
For WRL | Minimum accumulation of the registration fees must be maintained as follows:
- Month 1 – 25% of the affiliation paid,
- Month 2 – 50% of the affiliation paid,
- Month 3 – 75% of the affiliation paid, and
- Month 4 – 100% of the affiliation paid,
This week, clubs that have not achieved these minimum thresholds will receive letters and be given time to remediate before they can be suspended (God forbid).
So, as the regional association, we are glad to report lukewarm comfort levels with the new registration regime. As to whether we will manage with this regime, the proof is in the pudding. And that is one of the reasons why we employed a finance officer. We take this regime seriously.
Women’s Promotional League
Due to the few teams that have registered for the Women’s Promotional League, we were unable to commence league operations. Section 4.1.1 of our rules and regulations requires that a league have at least 8 teams. As such, we currently have 5 teams, these being the following:
- Lesedi La Batho Ladies Club
- Da Block Football Club
- Resbank Ladies Football Club
- Pretoria Defense Football Club
- Pretoria Athletic Football Club
So we are open for registrations. Interested clubs may register on the following link:
https://forms.gle/mmQfLj9nrjLdJPwJ9
As soon as we reach eight eligible participants, the WPL league will commence.
The Final Four Weeks of the Season For MRL
It’s crunch time for MRL, with promotion and relegation beginning to take shape.
It is Mamelodi All Stars, Zwashu Academy, Spartans, and Titans that look really set to compete for the number spot in the region’s flagship league.
Zwashu is chasing All Stars in Stream A, with two games in hand and an eleven-point gap. One of the games in hand concerns a disciplinary case arising from an abandoned match against Soshanguve South. The matter will go for a disciplinary hearing on the 15th of May (Friday). Even with that, they will still rely on All Stars to stumble on at least one or two of the remaining 4 fixtures. Zwashu themselves stumbled against the Spartans on Sunday, the 10th, almost dashing hopes of the number 1 spot. But with five games in hand, anything is possible.
It is much tighter on B Stream, with Titans breathing down the Spartans’ necks, with a one-point gap in their head-to-head matches, and both have three games to play. It is almost certain that the 23rd of May will be the decider for the runner of the number spot for this stream when Spartans visit Titans at Bana Ground in a six-point thriller. Personally, I will go see that game.
We are planning for the MRL Playoffs to take place on the 20th of June, 2026, on a one-leg basis, ensuring that all matches are played and the regional numbers 1 to 8 are determined. We will communicate the confirmed date and venue by Monday, the 18th of May 2026.
We still have cases, 5 of which were heard last week, on Thursday and Friday. We are still awaiting the outcomes from the chairpersons. As mentioned, we will still push for the conclusion of the Soshanguve South vs Zwashu Academy match, which was abandoned by this Friday. Also, we are busy with an Admission of Guilt process for Dlalisa Moyeni and Mighty Kings, which should be finalized at best this week and, at worst, next Friday.
We also have a congestion of fixtures, which caused an unsavory situation of back-to-back schedules. However, we have bought ourselves two more weeks in June, with the 6th, 13th, and 16th available to schedule some of the outstanding fixtures to complete the league. We may even move the play-offs from the 20th of June to the 21st or to the 27th. Either way, we will have time to prepare for the inter-regional playoffs in Gauteng. We will be ready.
WRL and TRDL Changes
We still do not have a block fixture for WRL and TRDL. This is because there are changes in the leagues. We need to confirm the changes and seal the leagues before we can revise the block fixtures.
In TRDL, we awaited the outcome of the Pheli Young Stars disciplinary process at Phelindaba Local Football Association. This process has been concluded, and we have been given a green light to continue fixing them. Fortunately, with some anticipation, we fixed them to play on the 10th, and they did.
However, we also had a change with Centurion Blues, who have confirmed withdrawal from TRDL. The official understood their reasons, rationale, and context. Centurion Blue has been withdrawn from TRDL.
This week, we should be able to finalise the TRDL fixture for the season and publish it.
With WRL, we have Ga-Rankuwa Queens and Blue Bees currently selling their franschises. They are not active in leagues. The association has given them until this coming Thursday to conclude their status sales.
However, should they both fail the sell, the association has put into place a contigency, by moving UNISA from Sream A to Stream B to equalise the streams in the meantime. We would like to thank UNISA for agreeing to move. They have already been fixture in Stream B and played against Rosina Sidibane.
Should any of the clubs between Queens and Bees sell before the deadline, they will be allocated to either stream, depending on their location. Should they both be successful, the streams will be equalised. Should they not be successful, the streams will continue as they are currently.
For WRL, the season fixture should be finalised by next week. Until then, we shall rely on Tuesday’s PDF-based fixture confirmations.
Conclusion of the 2025 TRDL League
The 2025 TRDL League was only concluded on the 10th of May 2026 at Eersterust. This is due to the case between Sporting CP and the University of Pretoria having dragged on from the regional disciplinary hearing, through the appeal in Gauteng, to arbitration at the national level. The arbitration concluded with an order of a replay between these two teams for the Under-17 and Under-19 teams.
On the 10th of May, Sporting became the region’s champions by beating the University of Pretoria 3-0. However, the University of Pretoria reciprocated with a 3-0 win in the Under 19 to become the region’s champions for Under 19.
The play-off stats are as follows:
Through the Competitions Committee, the stats will be confirmed as a true record, and the overall TRDL winner will be confirmed by Wednesday, the 13th of May.
We would like to thank both teams for ultimately allowing the results to be determined by the fields, not the boardroom. Football was the winner at the end of the day.
Improvement in the Application of the Rules
This weekend was a watershed for testing the rules, especially in the TRDL fixtures. We have had several enquiries, some of which require emphasis, and some we need to rethink regarding beefing up the application of those rules.
Is Cross-Participation an Augmentation of a Divisional Team or a Developmental Element?
In Atteridgeville, one of the teams lacked enough under-17 players. They needed to add under-15 players to go above the 7-player threshold. Considering the cross-participation rule, it is easy to take it on face value that under-15s can help get the number above the threshold. But a closer look at this shows it is not permissible.
Law 3 of the FIFA Laws does not take cross participation into consideration when it says the following:
A match is played by two teams, each with a maximum of eleven players; one must be the goalkeeper. A match may not start or continue if either team has fewer than seven players.
The intentions of cross-participation must also be understood. It is not to augment an upper-division team but to give lower-division players a developmental run in the upper division. Therefore, trying to count lower-division players as higher-division players defeats the purpose and should not be allowed.
Lower-division players for cross-participation must find divisional players already making the squad to play before they can be factored in. If the divisional players dont make the playing spaud, then there is no playing squad.
This clarification will be included in the rulebooks and shared with the affected leagues by Friday.
And then there is an Issue of the 2010’s
Players born in 2010 face an unfortunate dilemma: many are not yet eligible for IDs, yet the Department of Home Affairs advises against applying for passports. We have resolved that for Under 17, all players must use IDs or passports to both register and verify. What is to become of the 2010s now, since they no longer qualify to be registered as Under 15?
A number of officials from the clubs have reported that although the Department of Home Affairs advises against applying for a passport for an under-16, parents can still insist on applying for it to cover the gap period. So it is doable.
Due to this dilemma, the association agreed to register these players on the certificate PLUS proof of application for either the ID or the passport. However, the dilemma now is, what do we use to verify such a player at the grounds? It can be nothing, not even just the certificate?
The office is brainstorming about this. Clubs are free to share ideas. However, in the meantime, the use of players who may have been registered using proof of passport application must be put on hold until a foolproof solution has been put in place. The Office will communicate this hold this week.
Match Officials’ Appointment and Honoring of their Appointments
During the weekend of 2/3 May, we had an issue with three match officials failing to honor their appointments. So far, we have a plausible explanation from one. We find this conduct extremely unacceptable, and we are addressing it in the background.
We would like to thank the replacement match officials during that period for making themselves available in a short space of time.
This week, two problems were reported: one regarding the late arrival of the match official at Jan Niemand on the 9th of May, and one regarding the appointment of the match official at Rietondale, which kicked off one hour after the scheduled kick-off time. These, too, are unacceptable, and we will review these issues on Monday.
One Match Official per Fixture at WRL and TRDL
We are still dealing with the economic matter of allocating match officials to the fixtures. We must make it very clear that, as the association, we also want to assign three match officials to each WRL and TRDL fixture. However, economically, given the fees currently paid by the clubs, it is not morally or ethically possible to assign more match officials to the fixtures without increasing the registration fees.
Zooming in on the WRL, for a number of years, only one match official was appointed for those matches. This year is no different. However, there is recognition that we need to up the ante and move to three officials. This will, however, come with increased registration fees. It is therefore planned for next season.
Zooming into TRDL, for the past two years, the match officials were paid extremely low match fees. For these fixtures at best, they appointed three match officials, and at worst, four, including the assessor. Teams paid R1,000.00 per match day, which means that match officials needed to share three-way (R333.00 each) or four-way (R250.00 each). From this amount, remove R150,00 for travelling and R50,00 for food; only R133 (for three way split) or R50.00 (for 4 way split) was left for the match fee. Considering that the match official officiated 4 fixtures ro R133 at best or R50.00 at worst, we must all hand our head in shame.
For instance, here is how much FAP pays their match officials:
- Under 19 R140
- Under 17 R110
- Under 15 R100
- Under 13 R90
- Under 11 R60
- Under 9 R60
Now compare an Under-19 match official at FAP who is paid more than a regional match official who officiated under-13, under-15, under-17, and under-19, and see if there is justice in keeping the model. By the way, in other LFAs, they pay more.
There is a shortage of match officials, and the province is by far the most lucrative and accessible refereeing platform for them. When they get an appointment at the province, it is a no-brainer to decide which appointment to fulfil. As Tshwane RFA, we need to change that trajectory. We want to retain our referees, increase capacity, and ultimately increase capability.
Yes, we want to add assistant referees for TRDL fixtures, especially for Under 17 and Under 19, based on the fast pace of the matches. However, we have to prepare financially, especially for clubs. We plan to re-implement this next season, as we will communicate it widely so that clubs can be prepared for the costs.
Zakhele Ntuli has Been Suspended
Due to his conduct and the events of the 10th of May 2026, our Operations Officer, Zakhele Ntuli, has been suspended, and the disciplinary process is underway. We are working to conclude this process so that we can return to normality as soon as possible.
In the meantime, Njabulo will assist with Zakhele’s duties. Please contact Njabulo for further assistance.
Ponda Nchabeleng – Our New Finance Officer
And we have appointed the Finance Officer, Ponda Nchabeleng.
Ponda comes highly recommended with impressive qualifications and experience. LFAs may also request his assistance, especially now that he has an auditing background. Stakeholders may have noticed that we are reshaping the region to operate more like a business, and this posture will be greatly assisted by the financial experience in the office.
We welcome Ponda and wish him a pleasurable stay at TRFA. I think he has picked it up already because we believe anything is possible; we have already started doing it. And that we do this for the love of Football, for the love of Tshwane, and for the love of its Youth.
The President Has Spoken
Last week Friday, Acting President Tebogo Matlou was at the GFM with Rorisang Matea. If you have missed the interview, catch it here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18h2eQ9HYN
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