Publications
Partners
Former Bafana Bafana maestro Delron Buckley has called on Safa to ensure every PSL team has development structures that start with an Under-7 team – just like most of the top football-playing nations do.
Buckley, who played in Europe for nearly 20 years, said development was the most critical factor – not just in South Africa, but globally.
“If you look at Germany, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Manuel Neuer became world champions after going through a thorough and well-structured development programme,” said the former Borussia Dortmund player.
“Now you can see there is new talent coming through to the German national team. Why can’t Safa do it?
“Safa should make it compulsory that each PSL club has a development programme that starts from the Under-7 team up to the senior squad.
"PSL clubs have only the MultiChoice Diski Challenge [the PSL reserve league] teams and probably Under-15 teams.”
In Germany, if a club doesn’t have a proper development structure, it is not granted a licence to play in the top tier of German football, the Bundesliga.
On Bafana Bafana’s recent poor performances and failure to produce positive results, Buckley said the blame did not lie with players and coaches.
“You can’t blame the coaches and the players – you have to blame the foundation. Your foundation is Safa. If they are not stabilised enough, you are not going to have a top-quality senior national team that is going to produce good results.
"So if you can’t get it right at the top, your house is going to come crumbling down.
“If you build a house and your foundation is built in such a nonsense way that your house can’t stand, your roof is not going to stand, but collapse,” he said.
The passionate coach said Bafana Bafana was the roof: “Our foundation needs to be firm.”
He added that former Bafana players should help the team.
“I would love to see ex-professional footballers who have played overseas – like Lucas Radebe, Mark Fish, Shaun Bartlett and so on – come into Safa and take part in being managers and directors because they know how things are run properly. That can lead to success.”
Buckley believes these legends can turn things around, but there has to be a proper structure.
Bartlett was roped into the Bafana technical team after Bafana beat Seychelles 6-0 at FNB Stadium last month.
“Players should understand when they put their jersey on that they are playing for their country, their parents and the nation at large.”
In Europe, Buckley played for VfL Bochum, Arminia Bielefeld and FSV Mainz 05 before returning to South Africa in 2012 to play for Maritzburg United in the Absa Premiership.
He made his international debut in a friendly against Zambia in May 1998.
He played 73 games and scored 10 goals for Bafana. Buckley represented South Africa at both the 1998 and 2002 World Cups.
He now owns a football school in Durban named after him.
“I train kids from the age of six to 18,” he said.
He gives youngsters scholarships to study and play a sport of their choice in the US.
Buckley coached AmaZulu in their last nine games when they were in the NFD and hopes to get back into coaching a PSL side.
He has a Uefa B licence and plans to study to get a Uefa Pro licence.
Last year, he released an autobiography titled My Life.
