Under-17 league puts a shine on Mpumalanga
The fully sponsored league is arguably the first of its kind in the country, and it seems a fitting initiative to launch the structure in a province that has long been thought of as the backwater of local football.
Forek Institute of Technology, a privately owned technical and vocational education and training college situated in Kabokweni township, about 35km outside of Mbombela, has teamed up with the Safa Ehlanzeni region to sponsor the Under-17 league.The league is made up of 16 amateur clubs from local municipalities in Mbombela, Nkomazi and Bushbuckridge, which are all situated in the Ehlanzeni District Municipality.
“For too long this province has not been able to shine as much as it should in football. Through supplying the junior national teams with players or being an area of focus for talent scouts, I hope this league will have the desired impact on the province’s and the country’s football growth, and will grow to the level of the DStv Diski Challenge [the PSL reserve league],” he said.
“There were challenges in the first two games because clubs needed enough time to speak with their players’ parents to get the documents. They used birth certificates, but now the clubs have had their players registered on the MySafa system, after valid documents were provided,” Silabela said. Bazooka Mkhonza, the league’s technical committee member, said enforcing the fielding of Under-15 players was intended to give the younger players a platform to showcase themselves and make them eligible for selection to the national team, and to present them to scouts from elite academies.
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