Our biggest challenge is to stay together, grow together and win together!
There is so much development taking place in our football locally with the Safa Sedibeng SAB League teams set to increase to 24 teams. This means there will be no relegation again this season just like the previous season which was affected by Covid-19.
TOUCHLINE’s assessment to this whole situation is that – as long as this will improve the standard of our football, I don’t see anything wrong. But if this is to serve individual’s interest or egos then TOUCHLINE foresees some problems.
Look, I’m an advocate of development of football in this region and anything that doesn’t benefit the development of our players I don’t support.
For example, if you look at the teams that were crowned the league champions in their respective streams, some of those teams don’t have development structures. They only have a Super League team which doesn’t serve as part of development. Some teams just come to play in Super League for one season and gain promotion. There is nothing they bring to our association in terms of the development of our football.
The purpose of playing in the ELFA is part of improving the standard of football apart from promotion, but thisis not the case with other teams. The teams with proper development structures are the victims of this. TOUCHLINE challenges all the ELFA officials to look into this matter of the teams that just come to join the association and win the league and go. They don’t even have development structures because they don’t care about the development of football.
They are only interested in promotion but not to improve the standard of our football or the development of our football. It brings so much pain to those who work hard to improve the standard of football in our football, but others are just interested in promotion.
How so?
Or it is the matter of “Many Are Called, Few Are Chosen”?
Winning at all cost mentality continues to affect the development of our football.
I’m afraid, in future there will be no teams with development structure in the Super League because everyone wants to win the league and gain promotion to SAB League. Those teams with proper development structure will continue to suffer against those who just came for promotion.
TOUCHLINE hopes increasing the number of teams in SAB League is not going to have a negative impact on our football, with some teams finishing at the bottom of the log, but come the new season they still campaign in the league.
For the past two season this region has not had any team relegated – what an early Christmas bonus to some teams!
It is not as if TOUCHLINE is against those teams who finished at the bottom of the log, but those who suggested to increase the number of teams in SAB League could have come with a better suggestion. For example, you don’t wait until the end of the season to implement something new, you plan in advance. The problem with our football is that we recycle the same old problems in our football.
We will always have the same old faces and problems in our local football!
