The South African Football Coaches’ Association says it is aiming to “decolonise” and “Africanise” the coach education in South Africa. Sudesh Singh, the organisation’s sporting director, announced this during a media briefing at the SAFA House in Nasrec on Thursday morning.
SAFCA has announced that its coach education skills programs have been accredited by the Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality, and Sport Sector Education and Training Authority (Cathsseta).
Singh says their coaching courses will now be available at TVET colleges with those who pass being awarded the NQF Level 5 certificates.
“This is the first step in decolonising coaching education,” says Singh, describing the coaching content as African in nature and aimed at maximising the special qualities of African players.
“This is NQF Level 5, the next level will be a diploma level and then a degree. We are in communication with the Department of Education. We want South Africa to be the first country on the continent to offer a degree in Football Coaching.”
Singh says South African football and African football, in general, has for years been hamstrung by a lack of a common football philosophy that appreciates the strengths and weaknesses of African players.
“We can talk about the Arsene Wengers but they have no idea of African conditions. Over the years, we have had plumbers coming here and diluting our football and this is about changing that.”
Dan Malesela says he has an African identity that he will not change to keep a job.
“You can fire me, it’s alright. But when I am gone it is when you will realise my worth. You are going to struggle.” #SAFCA #SABCNews #SAFA
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) June 2, 2022
Among those who were in attendance were Marumo Gallants Coach, Dan Malesela, former Al Ahly Assistant Coach Cavin Johnson, and youth football coach, Sam Mbatha who were involved with the now-defunct Transnet School of Excellence. The school produced some of South Africa’s best players – the likes of Steven Pienaar, Dillon Sheppard, Bernard Parker, Brett Evan, and Brent Carelse, among others.
Malesela has lauded the accreditation of these skills programs and described them as a move in the right direction for the local game which has been on a downward spiral since winning the Africa Cup of Nations in 1996.
“You can clean a pot but if you put it back on fire it will be black again because black is stubborn. I am happy we have realised 30 years later that we need to be stubborn. 30 years on, someone will thank us when Bafana Bafana dominated the world because of this,” says Malesela.
“We will be better people if we can play football. But if we are dying to score goals, those goals will not come if we don’t create them. We need to play football. The stadiums will remain empty for as long as we don’t play football,”- Malesela. #SABCNews #SAFCA #SAFA
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) June 2, 2022
Zipho Dlangalala, a member of SAFCA, says the coaching content has been tried and tested for the past 30 years and was used when Mamelodi Sundowns dominated the league in the late 90s, and when Kaizer Chiefs won back-to-back league championships – all under the late Ted Dumitru.
Earlier, SAFA President, Danny Jordaan lamented the lack of qualified coaches in the country.
“We do not have enough coaches. We do not have enough qualified coaches … we need to widen that (pool) and (have) more qualified coaches at junior level.”
“We knew the identity of our football. We knew the characteristics of our players and we knew what needed to be done, says coach Sam Mbatha talking about the years of the School of Excellence which produced the likes of Steven Pienaar. #SABCNews #SAFA #SAFCA
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) June 2, 2022
Cathsseta Regional Manager, Zandile Ntshangase, has commended SAFCA on the initiative to formalise coach education in the country.
“The accreditation that has been awarded will go a long way, not only in terms of developing the skill (for players), but those coaches have a qualification that will allow them to do other things outside of football.”
She says they will be looking at Recognition of Prior Learning programs for coaches who have been in the game and contributed to it.
