SHARPEVILLE-. Former Bafana Bafana dreadlocked midfielder Augustine Makalakalane hosted a successful Back to School Tournament at the George Thabe Stadium

The tournament came to an end on Saturday, with the winners rewarded for their efforts. It was a great day of development with the Sharpeville youngster  To make it interesting, the organisers invited former Sharpeville Football Association members to honour them for their contribution to the development of football in the township.

The age categories that participated in this tournament include U12, U14, U16, and U18. Tshepiso Barcelona FC was crowned the U12 Champions, while Smarties Rangers FC was crowned the undisputed champions in the U14. Celeb Youth Academy was crowned the U16 champions, while ST Kings FC walked away with the first prize in the U18.

Makalakalane, who serves as a SAFA Coaches Instructor, is one of the few ex-professional players who is passionate about the development of football. This is not the first tournament he hosted for the Sharpeville development teams.

To date, Makalakalane is one of the players who put the Vaal Triangle (Sedibeng) on the world football history as one of the first few South African players to play abroad.

He spent ten years playing abroad before coming back and playing for Mamelodi Sundowns, where he became a player/assistant coach to the late Ted Dumitru. He was part of the Bafana Bafana team crowned the African Cup of Nations champions in 1996.

Speaking to Sedibeng Ster Sport, Tebello Kheswa, who is one of the long-serving development coaches in the Vaal, said football needs people like Makalakalane.

He told Sedibeng Ster Sport that Makalakalane showed other former professional soccer players the importance of development.

Kheswa said Makalalalane always attends the development soccer teams’ games, especially when they play at either the James or Pepsi grounds, or George Thabe Stadium.

“Bra Thiza spends time with us watching these youngsters playing, and he is passionate about the development of football. It is very rare to see him watch the senior teams because he believes that development is the most important phase of South African football.”

“On behalf of the Sharpeville development teams, I want to thank him for his commitment to the development of football in Sharpeville. Most of the youngsters look up to him as their role model. He played football at the highest level and put Sharpeville on the world football map. This was a great initiative, especially to see former members from the Sharpeville Football Association in attendance,” said Kheswa.