Why Professor Schloss wants Wits back in PSL

Professor Ronnie Schloss wants to see Wits University FC back in the DStv Premiership to preserve its legacy in South African football.

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The club sold its PSL status to Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila FC owner and Limpopo businessman Masala Mulaudzi in 2020.

Wits are one of South Africa’s oldest football clubs having been founded in 1921. They are now campaigning in Gauteng’s ABC Motsepe League looking to make their way back into professional football.

The former club president was speaking at Tuesday’s official renaming ceremony of the Wits Football Stadium Grandstand which will now be known as the Ronnie Schloss Grandstand in honour of his contribution to the club and football in the country.

“To me this is something I’m not going to forget. All I can say to the university is thank you for recognising me. I thoroughly enjoyed my life here and this was my home,” said Schloss.

“I’m still going to be here because I want us to have another team in the PSL. We have to think positive, we have to get another team because the team we had was one of the most popular teams in the country from the amount of coverage we got in newspapers.

“We were right at the top and as mentioned before, we had many players coming through the junior ranks like Eric Tinkler who played in Europe coming through from our U/14’s. Gary Bailey coming through the junior ranks. Bailey was a top student in engineering and he went to play for Manchester United and England,” added Schloss.

Schloss who now serves as a chief operating officer at the PSL, recalled the challenges of running Wits during the dark days of the apartheid system and turning the club into a multiracial one.

“Players stood together and were united all the time. We couldn’t travel by train together because we were not allowed to mix so we would hire a bus to go and play Bloemfontein Celtic but there were problems. You couldn’t stop at a Kentucky for a meal because there were separate services outside for black and white people,”

“It was a unanimous decision all the time that we would rather go as a unit or we don’t go at all. That taught people to appreciate each other’s cultures and to mix. It wasn’t easy in those days, believe me because my life was threatened on many occasions.

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“We formed a league which was initially very difficult to play in. We had to unite whites, coloureds, Indians and black leagues into one. In the early days some people wouldn’t accept it. Our bus would be stoned if we played against Moroka Swallows because some of the guys at hostels were not keen on us and that was all part of growing up I suppose,” concluded Schloss.

The Clever Boys has over the years produced notable players like Gary Bailey, Mike Ntombela, Mike Mangena, Zane Moosa, Bradley Carnell, Eric Tinkler, Josta Dladla and Stanton Fredericks.