The time has come to bridge the gap between young footballers and their professional idols.
It’s really easy to complain and believe that you could have made a “better” decision than those in the spotlight.
Molefi Ntseki has been made the permanent Bafana Bafana head coach, for example.
Are you going to cry now just because he’s not a big name?
Ntseki is a former teacher from the Free State region who has cut his teeth in grassroots football within the Safa structures.
The man has coached in the ABC Motsepe League for many years, has served as assistant coach at Bloemfontein Celtic and even coached some of the country’s brightest talents at the famed Harmony Sports Academy.
You remember Harmony from the Bayhill Premier Cup, mos?
That’s where you first saw Sipho Mbule and Teboho Mokoena running things and left us praying that they make progress and become professional players.
Well, Mbule and Mokoena, are both at SuperSport United nowadays and look like they will form a refreshing yet devastating partnership in that midfield this season.
Maybe even push for a place in the Bafana squad.
You see, Harmony won the Bayhill right here innie Kaap in 2006, mfethu. do you want to guess who the coach was?
Things are happening and they will continue to happen with or without me and you, my bra.
REUNITED: Many of Bafana Bafana's players know Ntseki well. Photo: Sydney Mahlangu/ BackpagePix.
Our one and only responsibility is to continue equipping ourselves with knowledge so that we can better judge.
Being misinformed means you risk giving the wrong information to the next man or youngster, and that means you’d be hurting the next generation.
Ntseki, who is now 50 years old, deserves this opportunity.
He has served as the assistant in the South African youth national teams under Serame Letsoaka and Solly Luvhengo, which means he has worked with the bulk of the current national players before they were household names.
Remember my column about the Amajita U20 team that was in Egypt in 2009 and how many guys were in the 2019 Bafana squad that was set to make history in the land of the Pyramids and Pharaohs?
Well, Ntseki was involved there my friend.
The man now gets to work with the same boys who are now men.
It’s a beautiful story that we all need to embrace and hope the man asks some honest questions to Bafana stars, especially the likes of Kermit Erasmus as to why they haven’t dominated the local scoring charts?
He has called up the Cape Town City striker for his current squad that will travel to Lusaka to face Zambia on Saturday.
If the players Ntseki has coached have progressed to professional levels, maybe, just maybe, he is the man to best work with those same players now when they’re in their prime!