20 August 2018 – Due to unfavourable weather conditions, the South Africa Football Association (SAFA) were forced to postpone their Grassroots & Live Your Goals football development programme festival which was scheduled to take place at Tyson Technical High School at Esikhawini in KZN on Saturday, 18 August 2018.
A total of 400 kids between the ages of 6-13 were expected to attend the event but persistent rains meant the event had to be postponed.
SAFA’s King Cetshwayo president, Bright Gumede expressed how disappointed he was given the fact that the festival was also set to serve as a platform for this year’s KwaZulu-Natal coaching D licence to wrap up on the practical part of the course.
“It’s quite unfortunate that we could not have the Live Your Goals grassroots football development festival because of the ongoing rains,” Gumede said. “This is something that is out of our hands; however, we are planning to have it this coming week. We can only hope that the weather conditions will be favourable by then as nature is something that we do not have control over.
Gumede said the festival will still take place as Tyson Technical High School.
Meanwhile, Gumede also expressed how happy he was with how the coaching D licence course went; adding that having qualified coaches at grassroots level throughout the country will go a long way in benefitting the country’s football in the long run.
“Everything went according to plan. I couldn’t be here on a daily basis due to other commitments but the coaching instructors gave me a very positive feedback on how things went.
“The instructors were really pleased with how our up-and-coming coaches responded in class and how brilliant they were in every task given. This means we have qualified coaches who will in turn help grassroots development. That is what we want as the region,” concluded Gumede.