“I am ready to meet with Alex football any  time to clear the air about the accusations of player poaching,” said Mahama Arthur, founder of the Help Academy Youth Development.

Arthur was responding to accusations of player poaching made by the secretary general of the Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association (LFA), Mafika Morajane, who said they were going to lay charges with mother body South African Football Association (Safa) against Arthur’s Fairmont-based Help Academy Youth Development.

Morajane accused Arthur’s academy, which is located on the doorstep of Alexandra, of poaching players from teams in the Alex league without obtaining clearance for them which, he said, contravened SAFA’S statutes.

After reading an article on the Alex News website about the Help Academy Youth Development’s alleged activities, a fuming Morajane called for an urgent interview saying he wanted to warn Arthur’s academy that the association will take action against his poaching.

In reply, Arthur said he was ready to meet with the association any time to clear his name and that of his academy, thereby setting the record straight and paving the way for a good working relationship with Alex football.

He said in a telephonic interview with Alex News, “We are both into developing these youngsters and taking them off the streets and away from mischief and drugs.

“I am ready, my brother, I am ready to meet with them as I have done in the past. I want to meet them and solve this issue once and for all. I believe I have a right to scout players in Alex for as long as they do not belong to the clubs.”

He said his academy was not there to poach any players but to ask for permission to scout for players who are not registered with any of the academies in Alexandra. Arthur said he sent letters of his meetings with Alex football, including Robert Langa, deputy chairman of Alex LFA, whom he said ‘enlightened us about the association and rules with regard to the scouting of players’.

“He also advised that we submit a letter to the LFA to make a decision with regard to our request to scout for players, which we did but we have not received any response from the Alex LFA.”

One of the letters reads: “We are a start-up soccer academy (non-profit organisation) and our focus is to develop talented underprivileged youth in Alexandra and the surrounding areas. The academy will start its recruitment process and working with the community to source talented players.

“We therefore ask for your permission to use the Altrec Sports Grounds, located at 410 Eastbank Avenue, Alexandra, for recruitment and training purposes.”