I will always be an advocate of the development of football in Sedibeng for as long I’m still breathing and alive.
The late Coach Mahlomola “Taylor” Mokoena was one of the people who used to be the advocate of the development of football in this region. May his soul rest in peace, gone but not forgotten! TOUCHLINE recently had a very interesting conversation with one of the long standing football administrator/coach, Patrick Louw and we reflected back when this region used to produce powerful football administrators and coaches who were passionate about the development of football. ‘Coach Taylor’ as he was affectionately known in local football was a brilliant visionary when it came to the development of football. Sadly, it is only in Sedibeng where development football teams or should I say junior soccer teams are not allowed to play at certain venues.
TOUCHLINE finds it very strange that only Super League and SAB League teams are allowed to play inside the George Thabe Stadium in Sharpeville while junior soccer teams are forced to play at the bumpy fields outside the stadium. This is because people like Coach Taylor are not here any more to fight for this malpractices. This shows how much people disrespect the development of our football in this region. The junior soccer teams are supposed to play in proper fields because these players are the foundation of our football. For example, Sharpeville junior soccer teams play outside those not good fields while Super League and SAB League teams enjoy better playing conditions at the expense of youngster.
TOUCHLINE has experienced this for a long time where these poor youngsters have to struggle in the outside field conditions. TOUCHLINE challenges the powers that be, to go to other regions and see the conditions that the junior soccer teams play at and see for themselves, but back here at home our development teams play in the hard fields grounds. The junior soccer teams play their league matches in the hard field grounds while the Super League and SAB League teams play in better conditions. Yours truly, TOUCHLINE always travels to other regions and provinces and the condition that junior soccer teams play in are world class compared to here at home. I mean those are municipal facilities, but junior teams are allowed to play there without any problem. For those who don’t know, football without development or junior soccer teams is like a house without a foundation. Development must be our top priority in this region.These youngsters grow up playing in bad conditions and they will struggle by the time they turn professional because it means they have would have gotten used to the new environment that is different from what they are used to. It is sad to see youngsters sitting on the grand stand at George Thabe Stadium thinking they will play inside the stadium and only been told that they will play in the outside fields. You can see from their faces that they are very disappointed even though they won’t say it.
TOUCHLINE challenges local football administrators and municipalities to go out there and check the kind of conditions the junior league teams play in, in other regions. I mean those are top class facilities and these are the only times our youngsters are exposed to such conditions. TOUCHLINE feels sorry for the current generation of players in this region because now the only better playing conditions they are exposed to are when they go and play in other regions or go to play at NWU Vaal campus. As an advocate of football development, TOUCHLINE challenges everyone who is involved with the development of football to go and see the conditions that the junior soccer league are playing in. With the Emfuleni Local Football Association (ELFA) junior soccer league set to kick off in April, there is a need to revisit the playing conditions of our junior league in all Emfuleni areas.
