Uthongathi FC prepared to conquer NFD
The club was competing at the SAB league and in less than five years, they have been promoted to play in the national first division league
Starting a football club for the sake of owning a team is not good enough.
You need to have a mission, vision and be prepared to work hard to achieve it.
That is what the Uthongathi FC management did when they formed their club in 2014.
The club was competing at the SAB league and in less than five years, they have been promoted to play in the national first division league, which is the secondbest league in South Africa.
Since the club was founded, it has always been a hot topic among local football fans as it had managed to source supporters around the province.
Spokesperson Nkosinathi Chili said one of their pillars of strength is co-operation from the management and their coach, Ronnie Gabriel.
“We do not leave it to the coach to source good players, but we also go out and look at quality players and bring them to the coaches. Then it is up to them whether they sign that player or not,” said Chili.
Uthongathi won the KZN ABC Motsepe League by 76 points, leaving a gap of eight points from Umvoti FC, who finished in the 2nd position with 68 points.
They then went to play in the national playoffs where they won all three games and the final where they defeated free state champion, Super Eagles by 1-0.
The Motsepe League features 144 teams in total, divided into nine divisions after the nine provinces.
Each provincial division contains 16 teams.
The winner of each provincial division qualifies for the annual promotional play-offs, where the winners of two streams get promoted to the National First Division.
The team walked away with R1 million, but the club only takes R800 000 for winning the tournament, with the remaining R200 000 to be donated to a development of youth football project chosen by the team.
It has become the norm for small teams to get rid of their coach and hire a new one who is more experienced when they get to play in a bigger league.
However, Chili said that will not be the case.
“We also not planning to start looking for the famous players. Yes, they will obviously come with experience that will help our boys. But we do not want to turn this team into an old age club. There are so many young players with amazing talent that deserve to play in our team and the league. We want to keep on finding and producing quality local players.”
As much as the team is delighted to be part of the first division league, Chili said they are in need of a sponsor.
“We currently running the club without a sponsor and now that we competing in a national league, it will be a challenge.”
He thanked all their supporters and encouraged them to keep on supporting the team.
“All the stakeholders who came on board when we needed their help, we say thank you.
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