‘I’m 24 & playing in SA's SAB/ABC League… The PSL or Europe is still my dream’

Football Pyramids

To help illustrate this article more clearly, I’m going to use the English football pyramid in comparison to the South African one. In England, the first 5 tiers are ‘national’ leagues. Then comes the sixth tier, split into 2 leagues - the Conference North & Conference South. So here the pyramid is moving to regionalisation (two regions). Below that is a further regional split into four regions, then further splits below that. Of these last two levels in the pyramid, the sixth tier - Conference North/South - is equivalent to Divisions 6 and 7, and the seventh tier is essentially Divisions 8 to 11.

Now let’s look at South Africa’s pyramid and take note of one significant difference. At the top is the PSL, and the NFD is the second division. Then comes the regional split into 9 provincial leagues.

Notice how quickly that split happens, and how dramatic the number change is from two national to nine regional leagues, compared to England where the split from national to only two regions occurs at the sixth tier. So what this means is that the ABC Motsepe league essentially incorporates the equivalent of Divisions 3 to 11. In reality, as there is a dramatic shift from pro football at NFD down to ABC in terms of full-time pro to amateur/semi-pro (or small stipends), very few clubs at the Division 3 level are actually ‘just behind’ the NFD level. I would suggest that the gap for most is quite significant – almost a chasm.

Then we have the SAB league, with 832 clubs, competing in 52 leagues around the country. These are the equivalent to Divisions 12 to 54.

What’s the significance of this? Well, I think it is very easy to completely misunderstand how close players are to the next level. So a player competing in the SAB league is playing in South Africa’s ‘fourth tier’ and is just three promotions (as a team or an individual player) away from the PSL. An ABC Motsepe player competing in South Africa’s ‘third tier’ is just two promotions to the top. It sounds a lot nearer, and also probably ‘feels’ a lot nearer too.

The significance of age 24

Now I want to zoom in briefly on specifically the age 24 - it’s significant. The 5x u23 player rule of the NFD now becomes a deterrent for coaches to sign ‘overs’ too. This combined with the reality that PSL/NFD coaches are generally more inclined to go for ‘experienced’ players at that level (i.e those who have proven themselves in that league) adds an extra notch to the difficulty to make the step up. Many players feel very close to the next level, for a few they certainly are, but for the majority there simply isn’t room for everyone to fulfill their professional football dreams.

I recently spent some time with a player I previously coached who was playing in the SAB league at age 28. He wanted advice about his life’s singular ambition (at the time*) - to play in the PSL/Europe. Now, for me, the main issue here is not the ambition to play at the highest level (but realistically it’s a big, big ask to make such a jump at these ages). No, it’s more the singular focus of the conversation that makes the pursuit of professional football the only thing. Without another dream, regardless of progress in the game, one day life will become tough…really tough.

*I'm pleased to report this player read and reviewed the initial draft of 'Dual Dream' and has started to plan his longer-term future with much greater clarity.