The Premier Soccer League elite division comes with massive benefits for the participating 16 professional clubs. Even though the death knell fell on Baroka Football Club (FC) status, Swallows FC scraped through to earn a point to launch another attempt to evade the ultimate drop to the first division.
Saturday, May 21, 2022
The Dstv Premiership relegation battle was settled on some clubs final matches of the 2021/2022 league campaign on Saturday May 21. Baroka Football Club (FC) failed to secure needed points on the day after losing to Maritzburg United FC who needed a point to be certain of their elite league status.
Swallows FC and TS Galaxy FC were also in the wars of their own to stay afloat. Galaxy avoided the drop by beating Chippa United FC 1-0 and finished the season 13th on the log. Be that as it may, Chippa ended their tenuous campaign on position 14.
Kicking off the final matches languishing at the bottom of the league, Swallows mastered a hard fought 2-2 draw against the struggling Kaizer Chiefs FC when the last whistle sounded. For their part, the former completed this season’s league edition with 47 points. They lie 4th on the standings and there are still outstanding fixtures to be played by few clubs before the wrap up reaches its finalization.
More poignant are Orlando Pirates FC who are three league games behind. Their 40 points have them posted 7th on the Dstv Premiership league’s packing order. Needless to add that Mamelodi Sundowns FC secured their 3rd league title in a row with few games to spare. Posting 62 points, they still have a league game (against the feisty Royal AM laying 5th on 46 points) to fulfill.
In Durban, the KwaZulu-Natal derby between AmaZulu FC and Golden Arrows was called off due to rain that left Moses Mabhida Stadium waterlogged. While AmaZulu are 6th on the league standing after collecting 41 points in 21 games, Arrows lie 9th with 37 points after equal number of games.
Swallows lifeline
Accumulating a mere 15-point tally in 30 league games, Swallows winded up on 15th on the table. As a result, they leapfrogged Baroka; thus, surviving to fight for yet another season. Meanwhile the latter were relegated outright with their 25 points season-long, Swallows will be fortunately going into the play-offs, a second bite at the Premier League cherry. They will be joined by two first division GladAfrica league clubs that finished 2nd and 3rd this season as the winners get automatic promotion to the Dstv Premiership next season – 2022/2023.
In this regard, Richards Bay FC won the GladAfrica League while University of Pretoria and Cape Town All Stars came behind in that order. Swallows are not out of the woods yet. Their Premiership playoffs against All Stars and University of Pretoria will be very intriguing.