Castle
Lager recently announced an ambitious initiative to find and develop
undiscovered Football talent in South Africa. Over the course of the next eight
months, players from the 52 SAFA regions will compete for a place in the Castle
Lager Superstars XI.
The
programme, called the Castle Lager Superstars, will run in partnership with the
South African Football Federation (SAFA) to identify tomorrow’s soccer
superstars.
Castle
Lager have identified nine respected football coaches, each representing a
province of the country, who came together at the SAB Training Institute in
Midrand to undergo an intensive scouting workshop hosted by Dutch FIFA
instructor Roger Schouwenaar. These coaches will then be deployed back to their
provinces to scout the talent with our ambassadors Neil Tovey, Philemon Masinga
and John Moshoeu.
Jomo
Cosmos owner Jomo Sono, regarded in South Africa as the best local talent
scout, was also on hand to share his experiences in the industry and to give
the coaches special insight into some of his personal scouting experiences.
Sono
was excited to be presented with an opportunity to address the forum of
coaches, “Everybody thinks that scouting is an easy job, you simply find a
player who can do tricks and you sign him up, but this isn’t the case there is
a lot more that goes into talent identification. It’s the ability to spot a
strength within a player and then having the experience to get the maximum out
of that player’s strength.”
Sono
went on to reveal that he has also missed a number of quality footballers that
slipped through his grasp. “Many people don’t know this, but I had Harold
Legodi, Shakes Kungwane, Thabo Mooki and Jabu Pule at Cosmos training but I
just didn’t see them.”
Roger
Schouwenaar, a former professional footballer who plied his trade in Belgium
and Holland and has coached extensively over the last 15 years presented the
course to the group of coaches. Schouwenaar has spent considerable time in
South Africa and is part of the KNVB who are in a committed partnership with
SAFA as part of the World Cup Legacy programmes. The Uefa Instructor has been
left suitably impressed with the talent in South Africa but feels the need to
focus on the tactical aspect of the game.
“South
Africa is a big country and there is a lot of talent here, but it’s up to the
coaches to ensure that the best players are scouted and that Castle Lager can
put together a very competitive team. There is no doubt that the players in
South Africa have technical ability, even better than the Dutch players, but
the South African players lack the tactical insight that is required,” he said.
Castle
Lager Sponsorship Manager Errol Madlala was enthusiastic about the contribution
that Castle Lager Superstars can have on South African football, “We have taken
inspiration from the Dutch who have a sound reputation for developing and
scouting footballers and we have also roped in the expertise of the King of
Scouting Jomo Sono whose scouting record is unquestionable and we believe that
we will be able to unearth a few gems who can go on to have successful careers
in football.”
“As
a company we want to lead by example and as Castle Lager we want to be seen as
a brand that gives back to football together with our consumers by making this
contribution to the superstars of tomorrow.”
