A united interim Schools Body which was presented to the media on Friday, 7 July 2017 has vowed to unite all schools in the country and work towards improving the standard of football in the country.

The interim structure which is headed by Mzimkhulu Fina and has various individuals from SASFA and include Brains Zulu, Innocent Sirovha, Smangaliso Mgenge, Dickson Moleko, Steve Pila, Mazwi Mkhize and Vincent Ramphago.

Chairman of the new body Fina said this was a historical moment to have a one united structure under the umbrella of the national governing football body SAFA.

“From now on going forward, we want to aggressively work towards uniting all schools in the country and to encourage all of them to participate in football. It will now be smooth sailing because we have now formed a new united body to promote the schools sport agenda,” said Fina.

The School sport chair said schools were the foundation of pushing huge numbers of the population to participate in football because there were schools in every part of the country and SAFA controlled every corner of the nation.

“The bigger numbers at the entry level (schools level) are vital for the development of the sport in the country hence we want each and every school to play football as part of the curriculum,” added Fina. He said the new interim body had been given a short time frame to engage all schools and work out the workable modalities going forward.

Former SASFA secretary general Steve Pila who is part of the new SAFA interim body said he was against a fragmented schools sport and had joined hands with SAFA to avoid confusing pupils and sponsors.

“We want all schools to play football under one umbrella body and that is SAFA. Anyone who goes against this principle and does things outside the Association must be suspended and never be part of organised football again,” he warned.

SAFA President, Dr Danny Jordaan who introduced the interim body to the media said a united schools structure would help galvanise the numbers of the population that plays football in the country.

Part of Vision 2022 is that SAFA would like to have 5.3 million (which equates to 10 percent) of the population participate in football by that year.

Sourced from the SAFA website.