Posted in News on Jun 19, 2001.
This year's Telkom Charity Cup will be staged on July 28 but the voting process, which determines the four participating teams, will still be exposed to abuse.
All 18 PSL teams, which were in the premier division last season, qualify to enter and each club will be given a unique number and their supporters will vote by dialing through that number. The voting lines will open on Wednesday and will close at midnight on July 20.
This year the league and the sponsors stepped up a gear in combating widespread corruption and abuse of the system by putting in place a system, which will detect computer-generated calls.
"Let everyone vote and vote for the team they want to see in the Charity Cup," said PSL chief executive Dr Robin Petersen.
"To preserve the integrity of the voting, safeguards have been put in place to eliminate the risk of multiple entries being generated via computer modems," said Petersen.
The voting public will have to choices on the new system – first to vote for their favourite team and the an option to name three of the teams they would like to see participating in the pre-season tournament.
Petersen, however, said there was very little the league and the organisers could do to combat multiple votes by individuals as he made a joke about the "corrupt politics" of Chicago as he said, "vote early and vote often".
The voting public will still be able to vote more than once for any team of their choice and as witnessed in the past, telephone votes do not always add to the numbers at the stadium. But Petersen said the money generated through the telephones would go a long way in helping the needy.
Defending Charity Cup champions Sundowns, topped the voting last season where a total of 455 000 votes were received in three and half weeks. Kaizer Chiefs, who arguably command the highest number of supporters in the country, came second with Moroka Swallows third and Orlando Pirates completing the quartet.
Deloitte & Touche, an independent firm of auditors, has been appointed to conduct and audit of the votes.
The money raised through the telephone voting plus the ticket sales will be donated to charity. As another measure of stepping up the fundraising campaign, a telephonic pledge line will be opened on July 21 and it will be in place for a week.
Highlighting the importance of the Charity Cup, Petersen said it was important to raise the awareness of football. "Football is undervalued in this country and yet it is growing significantly by the day," he said.
"Events like this one remind us that our heart is in football. They also remind us of where we come from and that we must continue to grow."
Thirty eight charity organisations working to improve the lives of those less fortunate benefited from the R800 000 raised in last year’s Charity Cup. Each organisation received a cheque worth R21 000 for their cause.
Teams Numbers
African Wanderers 086 22 33 800
Ajax Cape Town 086 22 33 801
Bloemfontein Celtic 086 22 33 802
Bush Bucks 086 22 33 803
Classic 086 22 33 804
Free State Stars 086 22 33 805
Hellenic 086 22 33 806
Jomo Cosmos 086 22 33 807
Kaizer Chiefs 086 22 33 808
Lamontville Golden Arrows 086 22 33 809
Manning Rangers 086 22 33 810
Moroka Swallows 086 22 33 811
Orlando Pirates 086 22 33 812
Ria Stars 086 22 33 813
Santos 086 22 33 814
Sundowns 086 22 33 815
SuperSport United 086 22 33 816
Wits University 086 22 33 817
