Both Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns were knocked out this past weekend while for the first time in the history of the modern day PSL Orlando Pirates didn’t even qualify for this top eight competition after finishing in 11th position last season.
The gloss brought by the pulling power of the Big Three – which provides the mileage that always attracts sponsors – will now be diluted.
Such has been the effect of the Big Three in this competition that they have been involved in seven of the nine finals since MTN started backing this competition.
This year the semi-final line-up has Maritzburg United versus SuperSport United with Cape Town City up against Bidvest Wits.
Never before has the Top 8 – under the MTN sponsorship banner – been minus all of Chiefs, Pirates and Sundowns in the last four.
Even through the PSL era stretches back to 1996, it has only been once that this competition was minus the Big Three in matches deciding the two finalists.
This happened in 2003 when both Pirates and Chiefs were bundled out in the quarter-finals by Jomo Cosmos and Wits University respectively, while The Brazilians were not even involved as they finished in position 10 in the 2002/03 season.
Ezenkosi ultimately finished as champions after overcoming Moroka Swallows in the final.
The only other occasion in the history of the Top 8, which goes back to 1972, that none of the Big Three were not in the semi-finals was in 1986.
Amakhosi were knocked out by Durban City in the last eight while both The Bucs and The Brazilians didn’t even qualify after finishing 15th and 11th respectively the previous year.
Arcadia Shepherds beat Wits University in the final that year.