Veteran midfielder Michael Morton has shone the light on the tendency of South African football clubs buying and selling their statuses.
In a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, earlier this week, Morton highlighted how a number of clubs who competed in the top flight during the 2013/14 season no longer exist.
Bidvest Wits, who won the league title as recently as 2016/17, sold their status to Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila, who later sold it to Marumo Gallants. Gallants are currently struggling to avoid relevation from the first division.
On top of that, Bloemfontein Celtic, Mpumalanga Black Aces, Platinum Stars, AmaZulu, Free State Stars have all been sold in the last 10 years.
Recently, Shauwn Mkhize and Royal AM upset fans across the country when they bought the status of Bloemfontein Celtic, whose fans were among the most passionate in the league.
“Pretty difficult to look at this situation positively. We’ve hurt a lot of fans and we’ve lost a lot of history in our game. Things have to change. This can’t continue,” said Morton.
According to the 35-year-old Morton, who has played for a number of clubs in a successful journeyman career, this is not sustainable.
“The sad situation in South African Football right now. I can’t help but think this is not a sustainable way to go about things, Where does this end?”
Morton Further revealed that the demise of legendary South African clubs such as Bidvest Wits and Bloemfontein Celtic F.C. was what hurt him the most.
Morton currently plays for Cape Town Spurs, who themselves went under a different name — Ajax Cape Town — when they were relegated from the DStv Premiership in 2017/18.
In another post, Morton floated the idea of fans reviving the once famous Celtic.
“Hear me out... 100k fans paying a R20/month membership fee and we have R2 million for operating costs.
“Crowdfund Celtic back into existence... We can dream.”
IOL Sport