The South African football development structures are heavily criticised for producing players, who are not good enough for the Premier Soccer League and Bafana Bafana, writes columnist Charles Baloyi.
The Varsity football launch that took place at the Wits University on Monday will help to bypass and assist in the growing of players.
It is a new dawn for Mzansi’s football and this initiative should be supported at all cost. The eagerly awaited launch was attended by the South African Football Association (Safa) President Kirsten Nematandani and former Springbok legend and skipper Francois Pienaar and the passionate soccer fanatics.
While the players are no longer young and are already at university level, the younger ones will be selected for SA junior national teams the under-20, U17 and U23 age groups.
We didn’t have a representative at the recent under-20 World Cup in Turkey. But this competition will help to close that gap.
The PSL and the National First Divisions teams also stand to benefit by signing outstanding players.
The presence of former players, current players, scout and coaches will inspire the players to play as if their lives depended on the matches. And the fact that the games are televised live will boost the players’ confidence and ensure that their families can watch them on the small screen.
I watched the opening game at the Millpark Stadium between host Wits and Mafikeng based North West University. It was a great advert for development football.
NWU thumped the Clever Students 4-0 dishing out South African football with shibobos and tsamayas. In the Pretoria derby, Tshwane University of Technology stunned their illustrious sporting neighbours University of Pretoria (Tuks) 4-1 in their own back yard. It was the biggest upset of day one a result that no one saw coming.
It was also interesting to see coastal University of Cape Town forcing a 1-1 draw away to Free State University. A total of 13 goals were scored in the opening four matches.
I have also noticed that the man-of-the-match amount of R2000 will encourage the players to go all out on the field of play. The sportsmanship of shaking hands by players before the matches, will also promote fair play among the players.
It’s also important to note that this competition is not just about the footballers it also has an impact on bringing university students together and they get behind their respective teams.
The quality of entertainment off the pitch with DJ’s entertaining supporters’ powerful sounds at half-time and prize give away attracts them to the stadiums. Debonairs idea of giving away 100 pizzas to the residence that best supports their teams is a great ploy to lure fans to the stadiums.
I know it’s still early days, but I declare the first week of Varsity football a success and give the organisers of the tournament a thumbs up for coming up with this brilliant idea.
Charles Baloyi is a sports writer for the Daily Sun and the Sunday Sun newspapers.
