Santos FC chairman Goolam Allie has opened up on the club’s difficult return to the ABC Motsepe League, revealing how a demanding schedule has taken a heavy toll on his players after months of uncertainty.
The Cape Town side was expelled from the third division in October 2025 by SAFA following an administrative dispute, which also saw them miss out on the Nedbank Cup playoffs due to outstanding financial obligations. After a legal battle, the ruling eventually went in Santos’ favour, with the club reinstated earlier this year.
At the time, Allie made it clear that the fight was never about personal recognition but about protecting the players who were caught in the middle of off-field issues.
“Yes, we are back. We have been reinstated where we belong…” Allie told FARPost back in January. “I could not expect my players to keep making sacrifices based on the actions of our administrators. We have five games behind; we will have to play catch-up. We intend to play one game extra per month. The season has five months left. We will catch up with the five games.”
But moving to the present, things have not gone according to that plan.
SANTOS CHAIRMAN GOOLAM ALLIE: ‘WE ARE FACING AN EVEN BIGGER CHALLENGE’
Santos, known as the People’s Team, only began their league campaign three months late but have since caught up with the rest of the division, having now played 13 matches. They currently sit seventh on the table, a position Allie believes does not reflect their true potential under normal circumstances.
“We went through a tough time during the case, and then we faced something even more challenging once we started playing,” Allie told FARPost. “…We are being punished. We play every Saturday and Wednesday. Every single week, it has been so brutal. These are amateurs; they have work and school,” Allie continued.
“Players come home from work at 5 PM and have to rush to training or a match, tired after working all day. We asked to play the catch-up games over five months. We could play one extra game per month,but they refused.”
‘I APPOACHED THE SAFA DOCTOR’
Allie added by saying: “We were not allowed to do that. Nothing was done to help and support Santos. We started with eight games unbeaten.
“We then had so many injuries and fatigue. The legs could no longer carry the players anymore. It was no longer possible. You have limited resources. We then lost four games in a row. If this hadn’t happened, we would have been right at the top.
“We lost games because of fatigue. We lost games because we could not use our injured players. I have players who have to go for operations. I approached the SAFA doctor to write to them about the dangers of this schedule,” Allie concluded.
Despite the setbacks, the club’s main objective remains unchanged – to fight their way out of the ABC Motsepe League.
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