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Cape Town - SuperSport United midfielder Reneilwe 'Yeye' Letsholonyane believes the South African Football Association (SAFA) are doing enough to change football in the country.
MUST READ: Scoring goals was Africa's biggest problem at SWC - Yeye
In an exclusive interview with Sport24, the Bafana Bafana veteran defended the association who have come under scrutiny for failing to improve the infrastructure of the sport.
“Personally, I think they are doing something when it comes to football in the country,” said Letsholonyane.
“SAFA alone will not change things when it comes to our football - clubs should play their part in helping develop players.
“Also, our former players and current players should do something as well to try and nurture talent which will help Bafana Bafana in the near future.”
Letsholonyane says a football-loving South Africa does not want to lend a helping hand when problems arise, but is hopeful things will change.
The 36-year-old, who has partnered with Cartoon Network to become the new Ben 10 ambassador, wants the public to get more involved in assisting SAFA.
“Putting everything on SAFA is not right, our country is huge and SAFA alone can’t attend to every problem that is out there,” Letsholonyane continued.
“Communities out there should play their part as well so we can help the country to be better.
“Remember, we call ourselves a footballing nation - so how is it a footballing nation when we depending on one association (SAFA) to do more things when it comes to football?
“If you are a football nation that means every individual in the country loves football or loves a sport and if you love the sport you would do anything to improve the sport.
“So, we can’t be calling ourselves a footballing nation when things are falling apart, and we don’t want to be involved in order to fixing the problem.”
Bafana Bafana have failed to qualify for the last two Soccer World Cup tournaments hosted in Brazil (2014) and Russia (2018), respectively.
However, the former Kaizer Chiefs midfielder is backing the national team to do well in the coming years under the tutelage of Stuart Baxter, and believes in the ‘2022 vision’ put in place by SAFA President Danny Jordaan.
“I don’t doubt the talent that we have. We have so much talent in the country,” Letsholonyane said.
“We are not supposed to be struggling the way we are. But I believe in the national team and the coach that we have at the moment.
“Given time and proper support, things will definitely start changing. We will start competing in major tournaments and winning them.
“However, he (Stuart Baxter) will need the support of SAFA and other coaches in the PSL and obviously the South African public.”
Tashreeq Vardien is a paper basketball dustbin champion and works at Sport24 ... Follow Tashreeq on Twitter.
