Football clubs receive training equipment
The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture said the equipment will assist the clubs ahead of the new under-17 league to start in 2025.
Twelve football clubs under Ray Nkonyeni Municipality recently scored training equipment from the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture in Ugu.
The teams each bagged five footballs, bibs, a demonstration board, a pump, goalkeeper gloves, a whistle and 15 flat cones.
According to Samke Shezi of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, the equipment will assist the clubs ahead of the new under 17 league to start in 2025.
Shezi said the idea of the league came after they saw that once boys were out of the under 15 division, they were left stranded.
“This department, working with its head office and the South African Football Association, will launch the under 17 league where players compete at regional and provincial levels. We agreed with the league coordinators that each municipality would have a league. This league aims to move from a municipality to a district and then a regional level. This is so we can have a structured way to develop ourselves,” said Shezi, adding that if anyone struggles on top, they can start afresh at the bottom.
She said the existing under 15 teams will feed players into the under 17 league.
She added that there are 45 football clubs in the district that the department supports, stressing the importance of teams submitting relevant documentation so that they can be assisted.
Shezi said at the beginning of every year, teams need to submit documents to the department so that they can know who to assist.
“The under 17 league coordinator, Musa Mendu, knows the importance of submitting documents annually. We need to see that matches were played and that there are results. We need to see a log, a fixture, and a report from the coordinator. Giving us these documents makes it easy to donate to the clubs,” she said.
Recipient of the training equipment, Mike Sima of the Lower South Coast Academy, said it was a relief to see that the department recognises and invests in club development.
“Our young players will appreciate these donations, and it will motivate them to train and play the game more,” he said.
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