Alex Royal Tigers is the darling of PSL sides
Kaizer Chifs is the latest Premier Soccer League outfit to lure Alex Royal Tigers' players to its fold
The many years of investments made in the coaching and administration of Alex Royal Tigers SC are now bearing fruit.
The boys from the Alex outfit are now hot property among teams in the DStv Premiership as they jostle one other to acquire talented youngsters from the Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association side to strengthen their development sides.
This was confirmed by Alex Royal Tigers founder and owner Tiger Matholengwe in an interview with Alex New. He said the latest premiership side to lure his boys to their fold was the Soweto Glamour Boys, Kaizer Chiefs which has already selected six of his players.
This happened during a coaching clinic for Tiger’s boys held at the Chiefs Village in Naturena on October 11 in partnership between AmaKhosi Amahle and one of their sponsors, Toyota. The clinic is part of a community social investment project known as Heart on the Sleeve and described as an initiative that seeks to change lives and give hope to the township’s future footballers.
Royal Tigers has been in a partnership with TS Galaxy for two years now as Matholengwe has been drafted into the Rockets’ coaching staff for its development side that plies its trade in the Gauteng Development League, a move that opened the gateway for a steady flow of players joining the Mpumalanga side.
Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates are also among the clubs that have sourced players from Alexandra and Royal Tigers in particular. “Royal Tigers has an initiative with the Buccaneers chairperson Dr Irvin Íron Duke’ Khoza along with its Alex technical head Mxolisi Mngomezulu, to open the gates for a steady flow of talented players from the township into the premiership’s oldest club,” Matholengwe said.
Alex Royal Tigers senior coach Thabang Radebe, who accompanied Matholengwe and the boys to the Chiefs Village, said he believed this latest working relationship with AmaKhosi is the tip of the iceberg of bigger things to come as the project blossoms with time.
Under normal circumstances, he said, courtship did not automatically result in a marriage as couples still needed time to understand each other and deepen the relationship, and only then, does marriage come into play and the same scenario is expected in the Kaizer Chiefs-Royal Tigers affair.
“We are grateful to both Kaizer Chiefs and their sponsor Toyota for the opportunity offered to our players and we look forward to a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship,” Radebe said.
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