12 June 2023 – Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Zizi Kodwa, South African Football Association (SAFA) President Dr Danny Jordaan and former Bafana Bafana captain Neil Tovey visited late erstwhile South African senior national team coach Clive Barker’s family in Glenwood in Durban to pay their respects on Monday (12 June 2023).
The much-loved Africa Cup of Nations-winning coach passed away on Saturday, 10 June 2023 after a brave battle with Lewy Body Dementia (LBD).
“We want to celebrate this life but in doing so we thought we should come to the family and hear their wishes,” the Minister said.
Dr Jordaan said SAFA will continue to honour Barker through some of the programmes that the Association has, especially in the SAFA Academy, youth courses and scouting, among others.
“We met with the family and we were happy to be there during this difficult time,” the SAFA President. “We will always remember Clive and will honour him with several other initiatives, including the SAFA/Clive Barker Academy .”
SAFA Technical Director Walter Steenbok confirmed that plans were already in the works. They were proposed and developed by the SAFA Technical Director, and approved at the last SAFA Congress.
“The SAFA Academy will be renamed SAFA/Clive Barker Academy, which is going to deliver specialised courses in youth, conditioning, scouting, performance and data analysis and other emerging courses in modern football,” Steenbok said.
“It will fall under SAFA Education, which includes Coach Education and the SAFA Academy. Coach Education offers CAF-accredited courses from CAF D to CAF Pro, including Goalkeeping etc, whilst SAFA Academy deals with specialised courses.”