Unqualified coaches destroy football – Safa Tshwane president

The high number of unqualified coaches at a local football association (LFA) level was destroying football and young stars’ futures.

This was according to the South African Football Association (Safa) Tshwane president Solly Mohlabeng.

He was speaking at the closing event of the Safa D-License Coaching course at the University of Pretoria’s Groenkloof campus on Sunday.

According to Mohlabeng, the LFA level was extremely important because it served as the foundation of football in the country.

“We are giving the people an opportunity to learn coaching through attending Safa coaching clinics before we do away with unqualified coaches within our system for football to develop effectively at an LFA level,” Mohlabeng told Rekord.

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He said the coaching courses had many benefits as among others, they enabled LFA teams to develop their coaches to make a meaningful contribution to the development of football at grassroots level.

Safa believed coaching courses helped to create better national soccer teams such as Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana, he said.

He urged teams at the LFA level to use the opportunity provided to them before it was too late, citing that the time to stop allowing unqualified coaches was fast approaching.

“My message to clubs in LFA is that they should please attend the coaching training. This will help clubs be promoted to the next level and it will allow Safa Tshwane to have a smooth transformation as already existing coaches will be absorbed in the system when meeting requirements.”

He said it would also be able to produce better players who would be signed by top teams in the country.

“It pains my heart that unqualified coaches use wrong coaching methods that sometimes injure players at a young age who then sometimes end up quitting playing soccer.”

The problem associated with lack of skills in unqualified coaches deprived talented players of coming out of the grassroots level and advancing to higher divisions.

One of the coaches who qualified on Sunday, Noluthando Vilakazi, said the coaching course was important to her.

“The coaching course has equipped me with skills to coach children on how to play football and to provide them life skills,” Vilakasi said.

She said she wanted to encourage more girls to play soccer as it is not only for men.

Another coach who also qualified on Sunday, Elanza Hendricks, said the coaching course broadened her knowledge of football.

“This qualification would make it easier for me to coach soccer teams should I decide to stop playing soccer,” she said.

The 18-year-old said she started playing football in 2017 and now plays for the Absa team at Tuks.

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