Komphela on player salary strike reports at Swallows

Steve Komphela addresses player salary strike at Morka Swallows, saying his players didn’t train for two weeks before losing their DStv Premiership match.

Swallows succumbed to a 2-1 loss at the hands of SuperSport United on Friday afternoon at Dobsonville Stadium and Komphela says he had to intervene.

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Reports emerged in the past few weeks that Swallows are experiencing financial struggles and the players were not paid before facing Gavin Hunt’s men.

Komphela says he had to convince striking Dube Birds players to honour their Premiership fixture against SuperSport on Friday.    

The hosts, Swallows conceded two goals in a space of four minutes to throw away a 1-0 lead and lose the game 2-1 and the seasoned mentor, Komphela confirmed during his post-match press conference that his team had not trained for 10 days.

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KOMPHELA ON PLAYER SALARY STRIKE AT SWALLOWS

While the Soweto-based Swallows netted through Gabadihno Mhango, the Tshwane giants ended their winless run as they scored through Tendamudzimu Matodzi and Etiosa Ighodaro.

Although the former Mamelodi Sundowns mentor didn’t want to divulge the reasons behind players going on strike, there have been rumours the club has failed to pay them their salaries.    

“I tried to be part of the solution, I could have taken the easy decision to say ‘listen, I’m stepping outside this’, but do I help anybody?” Komphela said after the game.    

“Do I help these players? Do I help the team? No.    

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“Now this was what was happening with us, every day you come to training. I’m there by 8am, 8.30am and whatever challenges we try to solve, and it doesn’t get solved, the players go back (without training).    

“We come again, on the next day, every day. You can go to my family and ask them, not even a single day I hadn’t been at work. They (my family) will also be shocked and surprised to hear that for 10 days you guys have not been training, but you have been leaving in the morning every day and coming back in the evening.   

“I do my job as a professional. For match day, I had to come here to Dobsonville Stadium for training. You come here to try to solve the problem and you can’t solve it, you go back home,” he said.    

“You are helpless, you can’t do anything because players tell you that ‘no, no we are not training’.”    

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SWALLOWS BOSS KOMPHELA ON HOW HE INTERVENED

The eloquent manager, Komphela says he had to convince and intervene to ensure they honoured their league fixture.

“I had to send a voice note that everybody must report for duty and find a way because we cannot (miss the fixture),” Komphela adds.  

“To be honest, it would have been bad if we didn’t honour the fixture or something worse than this happens.    

“OK, the result is bad, but do you want to tell me that we could have gone worse than this?    

“I think in the past there was a match where Santos got three points from us, and we didn’t honour the fixture. It happened in the past and it can’t happen again.

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“We need to respect the game and respect those who value the game. Part of that, you take a bashing trying to protect the game that everybody else tries to protect.    

“I could have taken an easy way out and said ‘No, no, no. Cancel the match or I’m not coming into the match’ but that’s an easy way out, try to solve the problem.    

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“But where we are at, understandably so, it’s a culmination of what has been happening and honestly speaking you can’t hide this.”  

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