'Players of this generation don’t seem to enjoy the game'

Cape Town - Wits head coach Gavin Hunt has criticised the current generation of football players for their lack of enjoyment of the game.

According to Wits’ official website, Hunt believes that a lot has changed since the days he used to play.

Hunt, a former player himself, played right-back for Hellenic before opting to coach. He has since won 11 titles after mentoring more than four clubs.

“Football is completely different now, even the game has changed. If you take it from a football perspective the pitches are much better now compared to when we used to play,” Hunt said.

“Some of our matches were played on dust bowls and very bad pitches. As so called professionals we trained in the evenings because we had jobs during the day and there is a sizable difference between my salary then and what some of the players earn today.

“The speed of football has most certainly changed and the players are far more athletic compared to the big strong players of my day. If you look at the players of this generation they don’t seem to enjoy the game as much as we used to 36 years ago.”

Hunt further added that development structures of today are far worse than thirty years as players are still learning basics in their 20’s.

“The one criticism I would give modern football is that there is not a lot of football intelligence and that stems from poor development structures.

“We came from great development structures. As a young football player, you learn the basics early on in your career where some players who are now in their 20’s are still learning the basics.”

Wits will face Ajax Cape Town on Tuesday, February 7 as the PSL returns.

Kick off is at 19:30.