Grassroots soccer development needed – Barker
JOBURG - Former Bafana Bafana winning coach Clive Barker believes only a rigorous development of grassroots soccer will take the country back to the number one spot it once occupied in African football.
Former Bafana Bafana winning coach, Clive Barker believes only a rigorous development of grassroots soccer will take the country back to the number one spot it once occupied in African football.
Barker, now coach of Mpumalanga Black Aces which held its ground in its maiden season in the Premier Soccer League, was speaking during the launch of the 15th edition of the South African Breweries (SAB) League National Championships at the SAB World of Beer in Newtown, Johannesburg.
The coach, famous for conquering all in Africa during his reign as Bafana coach, said nothing less than a carefully planed development programme could redeem the pride of the national team in world football.
Barker said a clear-cut vision was needed from the South African Football Association (Safa) that would inform the country of “where we are, what needs to be done and where that vision takes or proposes to take us to”. He said nothing short of that would work.
The former Bafana coach said Safa needed to set up structures at grassroots level which would unearth talent. This talent should then feed various spheres of football, but with the ultimate aim of reaching the Bafana camp.
He said one such programme was the SAB League which takes place in the heart of the grassroots structures in the dusty and remote rural villages, schools, farm schools, townships and so forth. Barker noted the abundance of talent in the country, but said it only needed someone with a nose for talent to unearth and nurture.
Barker said the other ingredient needed was an investment in the development of grassroots coaches “who form the foundation of this soccer power house we want to build. This must also be coupled with the administrative impetus to be injected into skilling those who run our football at this [grassroots] level”.
The inter-provincial SAB League National Championships take place at the North West University Stadium in Mahikeng from 14 July, culminating in the final on 20 July. Provinces have selected their best players from the SAB League to field in the tournament which includes a team from the University Sports South Africa.
