Former Bafana Bafana striker Delron Buckley is one of the standout names in this year’s Varsity Football after taking charge of the University of KwaZulu- Natal. During his heyday, Buckley represented South Africa 73 times and was also featured for several Bundesliga clubs, including Borussia Dortmund. However, the 44-year-old has now turned to the coach and has taken charge of a UKZN team that lost all their games in 2021.
Ahead of the second round of fixtures on Thursday, 28 July, Varsity Sports caught up with Buckley to chat about his targets for the tournament, the danger men in his team and former UJ coach Bradley Carnell, who now coaches in the Major League Soccer, drawing him to Varsity Football.
Varsity Football: How long have you been with UKZN?
Delron Buckley: They signed me on I think it was last year September, but the first two months, I had to put a whole concept for the University’s development and so on. So I only took the team probably around December time, started to train slowly, then had trials and got plays together and so on.
Varsity Football: What motivated you to take the job?
Delron Buckley: Well, I always watched the Varsity Cup because Bradley Carnell, whom I played with, was a coach back in a few years ago. He was a coach for UJ. So when I was in Johannesburg, I went to watch a few games. And it’s quite nice because you’re working with young players, the students. And out of the blue, I was called by my boss, Mark. He said, they are interested, they want me to come in and coach the UKZN. One thing led to another and I was there.
Varsity Football: Interesting. Last season UKZN lost all seven games. You started with a defeat this time around. Does that sound like a tough job you’ve got there?
Delron Buckley: Yeah, I also saw those games because when I was offered the job, that was when Varsity Football was on TV last year and I was seeing how they’re playing. And, of course, I’m like off I’ve got a lot to work on because they lost every single game. As UKZN they didn’t have good performances, it was very hard so to see the way they played and so on because they had quality players in that team. I have about five players from last year on my team at the moment and their quality is picked up dramatically. If you see them playing now in comparison to last year, it’s like chalk and cheese. But just a pity that now last week we lost against a VUT very stupid because it was our own mistakes that we made. I mean if you saw the game I think we were in ball possession for about 70%. We were playing, all they did was pump a long ball, our defender misjudges it and he heads it straight to the striker and he finished it, there was the 1-0. The other two goals were also our mistakes, midfielders holding the ball too long, intercepting and then quick playing in the box and they finished us. They had the one coloured boy, who was very, very good. You could see, give him the ball in the danger area he finishes it.
Varsity Football: Your next game now is against Wits, they also lost their first game. What are your expectations ahead of this game?
Delron Buckley: Well, last week’s game has opened up my eyes to how these universities play. I see that they hardly play from the back, every ball they get they try to pump it long and look for the second ball and they work from there. Also from Wits’ game, which I watched their game last week, it’s almost the same kind of thing. It’s just that I think they like to press very high and I like to play from the back. So it’s gonna be a challenge, of course. I just hope my players come to the party because last week, there were probably about six to seven players who were playing for the first time in Varsity Cup. So I think some were a bit shell-shocked with the crowd and everything, the TV cameras and so on. But I think the ice is broken so hopefully on Thursday it’ll be a different ball game.
Varsity Football: Who would you say you know the danger man in your team?
Delron Buckley: We have Njabulo [Mkhize], he is a good winger. He’s very technically strong, he can dribble. He is quick and he’s quite a dangerous man. And I have the guy that scored our 1-3. Banele [Ntuli], he’s very mobile, he’s a good striker. You saw the second half, there were so many opportunities for him to finish. But I also think for him as his first Varsity Cup, he had a little bit of stage fright but hopefully, the ice is broken and then Thursday, if he gets those chances again, you can finish them. But he’s a good striker. In all the friendly matches that we had, he was scoring for us, he was on top form. You know, he’s typical, how can I say a ‘Van Nistelrooy’. It’s just that end product, which you just need to click and then he’ll be a good finisher.
Varsity Football: Thank you Delron and good luck with your next game.
UKZN face Wits University in the early kick-off on Thursday at 17:00. The clash at Peter Booysen Park will be shown live on SuperSport 4.
You can get information on how to get tickets here .
