Rollers to cancel players' contracts
Kabelo Boranabi | Friday July 31, 2020 12:54
The former league champions were the first to react after the financial impact brought by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The club slashed the players’ salaries in April. There are heated negotiations at Popa as the club now moves to temporarily cancel the players’ contracts.
The move would see the playing contingent without pay for the next six months as the club proposed to give players only allowances, not monthly salaries as per their contracts. Speaking to Mmegi Sport, Rollers president Jagdish Shah confirmed the club is negotiating with players but are yet to find a common ground.
He said the club is trying to keep afloat as they are battling the financial implications that arose when the league was stopped in March due to outbreak of COVID-19. He said the move could also affected non-playing staff as well.
“We intend to stop the contracts for the months between July and December, but we are currently negotiating so it is difficult for me to give you an answer now. It is a matter between the two parties (management and players), so I cannot say much,” Shah said.
“It is difficult for the club to carry on as we do not know when the league will start, imagine people are not doing anything but they are getting paid for a time we do not know that makes it difficult for us to carry on. We might finish negotiations today, tomorrow or after three weeks, once we do we will give an answer.”
Popa is one of the highest paying clubs in local football scenes. The club’s monthly wage bill is said to be in the region of P500,000. The highest paid players pocket anything between P15,000 to P20,000 per month.
Since the league was stopped a number of clubs have resorted to cutting players’ salaries to stay afloat. A sizeable number of players are without jobs after their contracts ran out on June 30, 2020. League football is expected to return in February 2021 as the Botswana Football Association moves to change the local football calendar.