Athletic SA (ASA) chairman James Molloy told the Soweto Marathon Trust (SMT), which appears to favor televised racing on SABC rather than SuperSport, to speak with one voice to Central Gauteng Athletic (CGA) in order for the grievance to be heard.
Last year’s Soweto Marathon was not televised because SMT banned SuperSport from broadcasting it. In March last year, SuperSport and the ASA signed a television rights agreement for four years. Despite this, many, including SMT, feel that showing the event to be called “the people’s race” only on a pay TV channel, rather than a free-to-air channel, was not in keeping with what the marathon stands for.
The Soweto Marathon should call out the county [CGA] And they say, “We have this societal outcry that racing should be on free TV.” They cannot come to us on their own because they are affiliated with the CGA. There, we’ll sit and listen and go together to SuperSport and see what can be done,” Molloy told reporters on the sidelines of a media conference to unveil Bank Africa as the new sponsor of the Soweto Marathon. Wednesday.
An SMT member told Sowetan anonymously that the ASA should allow them to decide who they wanted their race to be televised.
“The Soweto Marathon is a people’s race, so why can’t people watch it for free on TV? The ASA should allow us to have our own broadcaster to make sure the community is happy,” said the unhappy member, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimization.
Molloy emphasized that even athletics clubs cannot negotiate television rights deals without the ASA, setting an example for professional football clubs, which abide by the decisions of the English Premier Soccer League (PSL) in such matters.
I’ll give you an example with Safa, the people who negotiated the broadcast rights are Safa [in fact it’s the PSL] Not Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates. Molloy explained that if Safa signs a deal with DStv or whatever, it goes to clubs but Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates cannot go to TV channels and negotiate for TV rights.