Inanda Club’s Nhathi Shabalala scores two goals against Zambia

It was a great day for Inanda Club when one of its development players earned a cap for South Africa and scored two goals against Zambia in the Africa Polo Open.

Inanda Club hosted a warm-up game for the SA team on 19 October, two days before Nhathi Shabalala did his club proud on the field at Rosefield Polo Club, Centurion.

At the practice, Shabalala said he felt a ‘little scared’ going into the match, but after the game, he described it as a good experience.

“I am happy with how it went,” he said. “I look forward to playing again after the break next year.”

Inanda’s Zompie Totetsi and Bafana Skosana also played for South Africa in the warm-up match for the international game.

This shows strides in the work Inanda has put into development but is also only one aspect of the club’s development goals, said Inanda Club polo manager, Craig James.

“We are proud of Nhathi, he has been involved for a long time and played in the Development Cup a number of times. It is a big achievement for him to come through the ranks,” James added.

“With the selection criteria of middle-level handicaps for some Test matches, we can expect to see more development players on the international scene.”

James said his goal with development at Inanda, which included work he did at the club’s polo school, was to get previously disadvantaged players playing at big polo events and earning full professional fees.

However, polo is not cheap and to support and develop a player from scratch requires money to feed up to four horses, transport them and look after them between events, never mind the time spent in coaching.

“We have had received sponsorship from Aon and we have exciting projects on the line. We have the Development Cup in July and the Aon Inanda International Polo in May.”

James said he had more development projects on the cards. Sandton Chronicle will report on these as they unfold.

Details: Inanda Club 011 884 1414/5/6/7.

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