 A couple of acrimonious EGMs highlighted the discontent among the "also-rans", while from 1986 there was an annual vote among the Executive members in deciding whether the mainstream champions should replace the elite's bottom club, but despite some close calls – including two casting votes by the chairman – this never happened.Nevertheless, the escalating controversy over the apartheid status meant change looked increasingly certain sooner or later, especially after the premier clubs lost their constitutional right to a representative majority.And so they broke away to form the SPL at the end of the 1996 season, thus finally curtailing many years of unsuccessful lobbying by the rank-and-file clubs.