Tottenham’s latest signing shelved a career in high finance to take a chance on a football career.

Bafana Bafana star Bongani Khumalo joins Tottenham Hotspur in January – and hopes are high at Spurs that he is merely the first of many to benefit from its close partnership with Pretoria-based club Supersport United.
Bongani, 25, captained Supersport United, which has been partnered with Spurs since 2007, to a record equalling third straight Premier Soccer League (PSL) championship last year.
He joins the likes of Aaron Mokoena, Steven Pienaar, Benni McCarthy, Kagisho Dikgacoi and Davide Somma in England’s top football circles.
Not a product of the Supersport Tottenham Hotspur Academy in South Africa, the ex-Tukkies player still has cause to be thankful for the close relationship between Supersport head coach Gavin Hunt and Academy Technical Director Eric Winstanley.
“During the World Cup, Gavin, I and Ian Broomfield (the Spurs talent scout) were discussing that Spurs were looking for centre-backs. Gavin suggested Bongani even though he didn’t want to lose him, Ian went to have a look and because of our close ties he was able to go for a trial at Spurs and they were impressed,” says Winstanley.
The experienced Englishman, who has coached in Africa, Barnsley and the Caribbean, joined the Academy in 2009 to pick out potential world-class players.
“Young players in South Africa have the raw talent and are technically very gifted but they need the Academy to hone their skills,” he says.

Overseas coaching

He plans to bring more young players from the SA-based Academy over to London for top-class coaching.
“The programme in South Africa is not as strong, partially because boys have to stay in school until they are 18 so they can only train part-time. In the UK boys can leave school at 16 so they can be full-time at the Academy.”
He said the system was starting to bear fruit with a number of Academy players due to compete for places in the Supersport first team and the Academy being “within touching distance” of sending more players over to Spurs.
“I expect four youngsters, between 15 and 16, to head over to the UK in September/October to play with Spurs.”
Spurs executive director and board member Donna Cullen says having Winstanley in South Africa had made a huge difference as “he knows what the Premier League needs,” although she stressed Spurs were not looking to “train Africa out of the player.”

Close ties

Cullen, who is English but grew up in South Africa, said Spurs has a close relationship with South Africa after touring in the 1960s – and after she took the team out in 2003 to support the SA World Cup bid and in 2006 to celebrate them winning it. “Danny Jordaan is a massive Spurs fan,” she said.
Spurs came back from the 2003 trip with Mabizela (‘Old John’ Mbulelo) from Orlando Pirates, a signing that “didn’t quite work out.”
Having watched players like Lucas Radebe, Pienaar and McCarthy she was keen when Stanley Matthews, Supersport United’s Director of Football asked if Spurs would be interested in building a relationship. “I just could not not see amazing talent coming out of South Africa,” she said.
With Winstanley in his second year as Technical Director, a position that is paid for by Spurs, which also co-funds the Academy, she feels it is easier to track the youngsters. “A number of players interest us and will spend a week or two at our UK Academy.”
The relationship between the clubs includes coaching, administration and even managment skills training.
“We sometimes take the Supersport players to Europe to play – we had two or three playing in Switzerland at the beginning of the season last year. That helps them prepare for travel and life in a foreign country,” she said.
Cullen said the Supersport-Spurs Academy looked after the boys’ schooling, training, nutrition and accommodation unlike in the UK where the players live out – with a vetted Spurs family – if their families live more than an hour away from the club.

Top flight involvement

Players between 15 to 18 will be considered for professional contracts, and the Academy staff were hoping to see a “lot more kids going straight to the Supersport First Team, being selected for Bafana Bafana and then heading for the Premier League.”
She is proud that Spurs financed the construction of the Tottenham Hotspur orphan house in the SOS Children’s village in Rustenburg, North West Province – funded by monies received from players’ fines.
Cullen says Spurs have found Supersport a good partner.
“We know from traffic on our website that we have a good footprint in South Africa and one of the great things about our association with Supersport is that they broadcast across SA and Africa and we supply them with material,” she said.
The club’s other South African connection is with Investec, which recently come onboard as a sponsor.

Branding exercise

Stanley Matthews, Director of Football at Supersport United, says the Spurs director is being unduly modest about Spurs’ popularity in Africa, it is closing the gap with Arsenal and Chelsea.
“Teams that are seen to promote African talent are popular – Arsenal and Chelsea are miles ahead. Liverpool and Man U have fallen behind. I think we’ve got the vision to try and build the Spurs brand and our brand in Africa.”
Matthews said Supersport, owned by a televison company with PSL broadcast rights throughout Africa, looked to Spurs for the international expertise and exposure that “we wouldn’t normally get from an African country point of view. The missing ingredient has been a player”.
While Khumalo hasn’t come through the Academy, Matthews said his elevation had been a great motivator.
“He’s a fantastic young man and a wonderful role model on and off the field. I think he’s going to do well at Spurs and I hope he does. It’s going to be a catalyst for the next few years for a number of players to come through”.
Matthews said the way things were going by 2012 more than half of Supersport’s first team squad would be from the Academy.
“We want to open up opportunities for our youngsters. The PSL is probably the showcase league in Africa in terms of being the most professional and most valuable in terms of television rights – its commercial value sits just outside the top ten in Europe. We get players from all over Africa coming to play in the SA Premier League and we also benefit when a SA player makes it like Steven Pienaar or hopefully like Bongani at Spurs. It will motivate the best of African talent to come down south as a springboard to Europe.”
Donna Cullen summed up, “our long relationship has culminated in this. We have extended it too. If we find one or two players it would be fantastic – it’s wonderful to welcome players from South Africa”.



South Africa Magazine, Issue 9