Premier Soccer League (PSL) outfit Chippa United’s move from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth presents a great opportunity for Eastern Cape soccer stars in making strides towards PSL football.
Premier Soccer League (PSL) outfit Chippa United’s move from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth presents a great opportunity for Eastern Cape soccer stars in making strides towards PSL football.
Speaking to Grocott's Mail, Chippa United Chief Operations Officer Shooz Mekuto said the team hopes to go around the province giving youngsters an opportunity to showcase the best they can offer with an opportunity of donning the Chippa jersey at stake.
Mekuto said they could not cater for every region in the province when they assembled their development squad which is participating in the new Multichoice Diski Challenge.
“We did not have enough time to assemble the team. This means we could not give trials as much as we hoped, since this was a PSL requirement to have the team readily available for the competition", said Mekuto.
“But our plan is to give development to local soccer even though at the moment we don’t have the dates set aside for trials.
"It is one of our future plans to give back to the development of local football", he said. Grahamstown teams will certainly hope to be one of the beneficiaries of this move on the part of Chippa United.
Golden Brothers Junior's coach Thozamile Yako said Chippa’s move to EC has revived his hopes of guiding his players to even new heights. He says he has players that can easily make the grade in the Bafana juniors but are not exposed to many opportunities due to a lack of resources in our small, beleaguered municipality.
He singled out 12-year-old forward Siviwe Zondani as an example of the potential that needs to be taken care of while at a younger age. Zondani also plays for the EP under 12 rugby side.
The Eastern Cape hasn’t had a team in top flight football ever since the relegation of Bay United in the 2008/2009 season.
Local soccer has long been in shambles with Bush Bucks the only club that ever made a worthwhile contribution in the elite division.
Financial stability has been one of the key stumbling blocks towards the development of soccer in the Eastern Cape. This is a challenge which has affected teams in lower leagues extremely.
Earlier this season, Nelson Mandela Bay municipality and Chippa United signed a R36 million three year deal to bring top flight soccer to the Friendly City.
