Richards Bay Football Club are already carving out a niche in the local football scene as everyone’s second favourite team. The newly-promoted side won 1-0 against Royal AM on Tuesday to make it four wins from seven games. If you’re looking for signs on whether they are safe from relegation, let’s start here:
4 – Richards Bay FC have now won as many games after seven rounds this season as Swallows FC managed throughout all of last season (also 4).
Swallows survived. Just.
Which is a painful contrast to the Swallows the season before. Swallows 2020-21 hold the PSL record for most points by a newly-promoted side in their opening seven games. 1999 Tembisa Classic were joint-second all along, with Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane (3 goals) top scoring for them on their way to 12 points from seven games. 2012 UP were the other 2nd placed team on this table, coached at the time by Stellies coach Steve Barker. Richards Bay are now outright 2nd.
MOST POINTS FOR NEWLY-PROMOTED SIDES AFTER SEVEN GAMES:
| Season | Team | Games | Points after seven games | Final League Position |
| 2020/21 | Swallows FC | 7 | 15 | 6 |
| 2022/23 | Richards Bay | 7 | 13 | tbc |
| 1999/00 | Classic | 7 | 12 | 9 |
| 2012/13 | Pretoria U. | 7 | 12 | 8 |
| 2001/02 | Black Leopards | 7 | 11 | 8 |
| 2002/03 | Dynamos | 7 | 11 | 7 |
| 2007/08 | Free State Stars | 7 | 11 | 5 |
| 2015/16 | Golden Arrows | 7 | 11 | 9 |
| 2005/06 | Maritzburg | 7 | 11 | 14 |
| 2021/22 | Sekhukhune | 7 | 11 | 11 |
| 2006/07 | Bidvest Wits | 7 | 10 | 13 |
| 2014/15 | Chippa Utd | 7 | 10 | 14 |
| 2000/01 | Golden Arrows | 7 | 10 | 9 |
| 2000/01 | Ria Stars | 7 | 10 | 7 |
Forget safety, is Top-half possible?
Why focus on survival. How high can they really go? After all, in the last two seasons, only three teams have won more than 4 of their opening seven games. Two of those sides (Sundowns 20-21 and Sundowns 21-22) went on t win the title. The 3rd was SuperSport 20-21 who won five of their opening seven games, only to end up in 5th. The Natal Rich Boyz would take that.
Richards Bay had 10 points from six games before Tuesday night. No newly promoted side has ever finished in the bottom-half of the PSL table having won 10+ points in their opening six games.
Of the three teams that had 12+ points after seven games, none of them finished in the bottom half either – Arthur Zwane’s Classic were 9th in a 18-team league, while Steve Barker’s University of Pretoria were 8th in a 16-team league. 40 points is the average needed for Top 8 in a 16-team PSL, Richards Bay need 27 points from the final 23 games to feature in next season’s MTN8.