Avril Fillies
Ida’s Valley Football Club was one of the two local teams who received soccer kit from Manchester City in collaboration with Betway on Saturday 30 May at the Idas Valley Sportsground. The other team who also received kit was Nelsons FC.
Siphiwe Tshabalala, the former Bafana Bafana player who scored the first goal in the 2010 World Cup against Mexico, and Lehlohonolo Majoro from Cape Town City, Betway Ambassadors, put the girls and boys through their paces.
“To be able to share the same field with these two legends of SA football on our home ground was already a special moment for our players and club, but to learn from them made it even more memorable,” says Jean-Pierre Adams, senior team manager.
“Hopefully this will be the first of many similar initiatives, not just for these players, but this will create the pathway for more of our community kids from all the clubs in our area to join in these types of initiatives. I am thankful to Garth le Roux and the sponsors, Betway, Forwardzone and Manchester City for making this possible.”
The club was established in 1932, is based in Idas Valley and is a member of the Idas Valley Sports Board. The club is also affiliated to the Stellenbosch Local Football Association.
The club have an u.9, two u.17s, an u.19, a Premier Team, a Promotional League team and an over 35 team, totalling approximately 150 players. The juniors and the Premier teams train Mondays and Tuesdays from 17:00 until 19:00 for the Stellenbosch LFA winter leagues and the Promotional team the same times for the Stellenbosch LFA Summer leagues.
“Legends of yesteryear who hails from Stellenbosch and played for this club who became professional soccer players include the likes of Reggie Jantjies, Peter “Lucky” Fisher and more recently Alcardo van Graan and Lee Langeveldt who is currently the club captain of the PSL team Stellenbosch FC, to name a few.
“Our u.19 boys who were present on Saturday had the opportunity to partake in a coaching clinic sponsored by Betway/Forwardzone in collaboration with Man City, and it was a great opportunity to learn from the Brand Ambassadors, Siphiwe Tshabalala and Lehlohonolo Majoro,” Adams says.
“Idas Valley AFC is in need of stable financial sponsorship to maintain the growing cost of transport for away games, acquiring equipment for training and matchdays and to be able to provide players nutrition on a more consistent basis. We want to give every player the opportunity to aspire to represent the country or even abroad, but we need to put certain things in place, and sponsorship is the main thing,” he says.
Tshabalala says afterwards that grassroots football is near to his heart. He grew up in Soweto and his idol was Doctor Khumalo, who also played for Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana in the 1996 Afcon. The next year Bafana Bafana competed in the World Cup in 1997.
“I can remember living in the street behind Khumalo’s home and standing on the corner when he was picked up by the Kaizer Chiefs taxi for games and that is where I decided to follow my dream to also represent South Africa in Bafana Bafana,” says Tshabalala.
With the sponsorship of Manchester City he encourages the youth of Stellenbosch to dream big and pursue their dreams.
“If your dream is to play at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester for Man City it is in your grasp, but you must realise you’ll have to make a lot of sacrifices and work hard. But it is not impossible to achieve, remember the world is your oyster and you can do it,” Tshabalala says.
• To get in touch with the club you can contact them via email idasvalleyafc@gmail.com or on social media: Facebook.com/IdasValleyAfc or Instagram.com/Idasvalley.AFC.
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