Mzansi is finally giving birth to people who are passionate about youth football

For years, South African football has given birth to many talented football players, but It looked like she had difficulties conceiving much needed young and passionate youth development coaches for the townships. Lately however, she has been giving birth to talented administrators and youth coaches. The football community has been given a symbol of hope for youth football in the townships. Youth football has always been neglected but the birth of these young coaches and administrators is a game changer.

One of these game changers is Power Twala, a 34 year old young man based in the East Rand (Phumula Mapleton, Boksburg). He is the founder of the Future Tournament as well as a junior club called Power United. He has previously appeared on Ibhola Lethu and has done several interviews with some established radio stations in the country. DiskiRamble caught up with him to do a lockdown piece and find out more about his work.

Just like most people involved in football, he also had ambitions of playing football at a professional level and he explains that “uPower is guy from emakhaya who loves football. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get an opportunity to play professional football for the likes of Pirates, Chiefs or Sundowns.” Power only moved to Gauteng in 2008 and that is when he decided to form Power United. As his team grew and young players from the township requesting to play for his team. He set out a plan to start the Future Tournament.

Future Tournament

“My aim when I started this tournament was to provide youngsters, particularly those from the townships an opportunity to pursue their dream of playing football. The tournament involves teams from outside the Gauteng province as well. Teams from as far Limpopo, KwaZulu Natal and the Free State as well. It is not only meant for the Ekurhuleni region.” He also explains that he once tried staging the tournament in his hometown of eDumbe, in KwaZulu Natal, but with minimal success. The turnout was not good and the associations from his townships doubted his ability to host such a big tournament.

Just like any other youth tournament that is not organized by the South African Football Association or the Premier Soccer League, the Future Tournament struggles to get funding and sponsorships. As such he has to depend mostly on the local businesses from around the East Rand for sponsorships. “SAFA Ekurhuleni has endorsed the tournament. Legae Hardware, Parcel IT Couriers, and the Gauteng provincial government are the main sponsors of the tournament”. His team, Power United has fortunately been sponsored by Ram Couriers.

With the lack of interest for youth development in South Africa, it comes as no surprise that some institutions have declined to sponsor such a tournament since the focus is only on the young ones. The age groups that take part in this tournament are under 11, 13, 15, 17 and 19. He is hoping that La Liga, who are big on youth development will come on board one day. PSL clubs do send their scouts to attend his tournament to find talent. One such club is AmaZulu, who have a player by the name of Yamkela Phalane, a 16 year old talent. Mr Twala does hope that more players will also be spotted at the tournament just like Yamkela.

Unfortunately, the 2020 edition of the tournament has been called off due to fears of the covid-19 pandemic. With that said, Power is not worried about the lack of participation in the tournament in future, because it is a huge tournament and teams from all over the country are starting to show interest in it. “Teams now even put this tournament in their calendars. In 2019, 122 teams from across the country participated in all the divisions of the tournament.”

A lot of people are not interested in youth football, especially if they work with players under the age of 16. Most people are more interested in winning football matches than the development of players. Power Twala’s role is to develop kids and give an opportunity to kids across the country to learn and love the game. South Africa should be grateful for young men like him. It is not every day that you come across people who want to see young footballers succeed without expecting anything in return.

DiskiRamble salutes Power Twala and many more like him. For more information about the tournament, please visit www.futuretournament.co.za