SEDIBENG.- The original Moroka Swallows took a short trip to visit Vaal on Saturday.

‘The Dube Birds,’ as Swallows is affectionately known in South African football, embarked on the tour to play a series of friendly matches against locally based development teams. These games took place at Cecil Oldridge Park in Vanderbijlpark on Saturday.

It was a great day of football, seeing one of the clubs with a rich history visit the local development teams.

To date, Swallows was one of the so-called ‘Big Three’ in South African football along the likes of Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.

This was when the club campaigned in top-flight football.

It was a trip down memory lane with the club’s official, Thabang Nonyana, sharing some interesting memories with Sedibeng Ster Sport. Nonyana said Moroka Swallows development never died after the club disappeared from top-flight football. He told Sedibeng Ster Sport it is a work in progress to revive this team.

South African football history will never be written without mentioning the name of the club. The club visited the local development teams with the following divisions: U13, U15, U17, and a reserve team.

“We’re bringing Moroka Swallows back in South African football, and I’m happy the club’s development never died. We want to thank Nale Academy for hosting us. We chose to visit this academy because we are aware of its contribution to the development of football, not only in Vaal but in South Africa. When I asked which development team we could play against in Vaal, I was told Nale Academy. I must say, we came here and there is a lot we learned from their development structures, especially their playing philosophy. This academy is very organised compared to some of the so-called elite academies. This is what we want to see in South African football, development over results,” said Nonyana.