Provincial Football Summit held in Cape Town
29 July 2006.
Members of the national and provincial legislatures,
SAFA NEC members,
Members of the regional Executive Committees,
Members of the local football associations,
CEOs and leaders of professional clubs,
Former football legends,
Esteemed guests, ladies and gentlemen:
The Provincial Football Summit takes place at a time when we have just
witnessed the conclusion of what is widely considered to be the best FIFA World
Cup hosted by Germany. On 7 July 2006 we also unveiled the 2010 logo in Germany
and this focused the attention of the World on South Africa.
I am particularly thrilled that this summit happens against a backdrop of
unity in purpose. The commitment by both local and provincial government with
regards to the location of the stadium shows that we are indeed united and
ready to host the Cape Town leg of 2010 with a great deal of success. It is
important that we at all times leading up to 2010 present a united front with
regards to the hosting of this event notwithstanding our differences. This is
important because we must showcase our ability to host this World Cup to the
football community of the world, Africa, South Africa and indeed our
province.
The conference also takes place at a time when South African Football
Association (SAFA) is in the process of realigning its structures in line with
the municipal boundaries of our province. This process is also about uniting
football. It is important that the outstanding regions complete this process as
soon as possible so that we together with local government can address the
question of resources for these structures to function optimally to develop
football.
Challenges facing football
Although the preparations for the hosting of 2010 is critical and occupies
the centre of all discussions, it is important for us as footballers to look
much wider than just the organisation of this event. Critical for us must be
the comprehensive development of football. The challenge for this summit is
therefore to develop an integrated Football Development Plan that will address
the areas of organisation, funding, facilities and coaching.
Football development
The realignment process and the proper building of clubs with properly
functioning leagues and teams from junior to senior level must be prioritised.
Gone are the days when someone will just buy a set of jerseys and register as a
club. A club in my understanding must consist of junior and senior teams with
coaches, regular meetings, training sessions and fundraising activities.
We are aware of major shortcomings in this regard. It is for this reason
that we have undertaken a trip to the Netherlands to seek co-operation between
the Royal National Dutch Football Association (RNDFA) and an organisation
called the Stars in their Eyes Foundation. This co-operation is aimed at the
twinning of 40 clubs from the Netherlands over the period of four years with 40
local clubs in our province. The programme is aimed at exchanging ideas with
the Netherlands clubs on club management and organisation. It is also aimed at
imparting technical and coaching skills and in particular the training of South
African coaches at a local level.
It is envisaged that 40 coaches will eventually be coming to our province on
an annual basis over a period of a couple of weeks to train coaches here. We
will also be looking at sending some coaches to the Netherlands.
In this regard the RNDFA is currently involved with a training programme in
co-operation with SAFA at the University of Stellenbosch. We will make more
details of this programme available after the conclusion of a Memorandum of
Agreement (MoA) at the end of August, but I want to inform you that the initial
stage of the programme will focus on rural and the urban poor areas. SAFA will
be consulted with the identification of these clubs.
This programme is not a panacea to all our shortcomings but will go a long
way in addressing some of our needs. However this conference will have to
examine and identify the areas of urgent intervention and the role of
government in this regard.
Professional football
It is an open secret that huge gaps exist between professional and amateur
football. Currently there are no formal or informal relations between our
professional and amateur clubs.
This often led to conflicts and other disputes. However this is not the main
problem. We are all well aware that any sport person engages in their chosen
sporting field with the main objective of wanting to achieve the highest
honour.
Elite sport is therefore the aim. In football playing and being chosen for a
professional club both locally and abroad and ultimately our national team is
therefore the objective of all young footballers.
The lack of a structured and formal relationship between amateur and
professional football hampers the process of talent identification and football
development. It has a fundamental effect on the chain of football
development.
In the Netherlands and Portugal we have learned that a structured
relationship exist between amateur and professional clubs in the form of people
who are appointed in each club or community to spot talent at a very early age
for professional clubs. The prescribed age for doing so is eight. Amateur clubs
buy into this and it is working perfectly which makes other contractual issues
very clear.
I want to urge this summit to look at this issue very carefully so that we
provide solutions that will give our youth hope that at least if they perform
well their efforts will be rewarded. This will go a long way in bringing about
more commitment to football and less to other deviant activities such as crime
and gangsterism.
A closer working relationship with professional clubs will develop loyalty
and therefore more support and attendance at games. The question we must ask
is, âHow is it possible for an English team come to Cape Town and have more
support than a local team?â The same is true about teams from other provinces
coming to our city.
During our visit abroad we also visited Portugal to seek partnerships with
top professional clubs there. These partnerships are aimed at providing an
opportunity for our local clubs to compete in an annual inter club competition
with international clubs, build their revenue and build a culture of attendance
at games. Moreover it must build excitement and support amongst our people for
the 2010 World Cup. Details of the competition that will include clubs from
Angola and Mozambique will be released shortly.
I hope that these strategies will make a contribution to bridging the gap
between amateur and professional clubs.
World Cup 2010
Much has been said and will still be said about 2010. The fundamental
challenge we however have is to ensure that this event the greatest showpiece
on earth does not go by without it benefiting the football community. It must
leave a lasting legacy.
* It must lead to increased spending by both government and the private
sector on football.
* It must create an interest in the private sector to invest in 2010 and
this must reach all our people from Cape Town to Murraysburg and Rietpoort to
Plettenberg Bay.
* It must galvanise all our people to make a voluntary contribution towards
the successful hosting of this event.
* It must bring about better and improved sport administrators, coaches and
footballers.
* It must leave well-built facilities for our future generations.
* It must serve as a catalyst to stimulate local economic empowerment.
This summit is seized with the responsibility to respond to this challenge.
The World Cup cannot just be an event; it must be a catalyst to a process of
socio economic development.
Our visit to Germany has taught us that this event is much more than just
football games and a tournament. It can do much more in terms of the above
challenges.
Funding and sponsorship
I have deliberately left funding and sponsorship for last. This is a very
critical element of the implementation of any dream or plan. Without it we
cannot move. The Department is in the process of reviewing our funding policy
and I want to invite you to make an input into this process.
The idea is to raise this matter in this summit to get us to think about it
in a much more strategic way. We are only used to raising funds and sponsorship
when we need it for a very particular event or tournament.
We depend on approaches made to us on the initiative of the private sector.
We need to become much more strategic in this regard. Given the conditions and
the interest that I referred to earlier we need to maximise the impact of the
availability of funding to ensure that it contributes to us achieving our
goals.
The division and disparity between rural and urban, those previously
advantaged and disadvantaged must be bridged through funding and sponsorship.
Sponsorship cannot be used to continually divide us. This summit must give
guidance and find ways to maximise footballâs share of the interest shown by
the private sector.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we are ready to get our house in order. The negative and
sometimes destructive newspaper reports only contribute towards pushing the
private sector away from us. It takes our focus off the main objectives.
We are ready to send a clear message to the rest of the world that South
Africa will welcome the world in 2010.
We are ready to host the best World Cup ever in 2010.
We are ready to prepare the best footballers, administrators and coaches for
2010 and beyond.
We are ready to prepare 2010 World Cup winning champions.
We are ready to leave a lasting legacy beyond World Cup 2010.
Letâs get ready, I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Sport and Cultural Affairs
29 July 2006
