The Egyptian Football Association banned clubs from signing foreign goalkeepers in 2009 to foster the growth of local goalkeepers. Bafana coach Hugo Broos has urged South Africa to consider a similar approach to prevent a potential goalkeeping crisis for the national team in the future.
South African clubs are allowed to register a maximum of five foreign players and there is no specific rule on goalkeepers, at some point, Mamelodi Sundowns had Denis Onyango and Kennedy Mweene as their first and second-choice keepers.
A number of local skippers find themselves as second or third-choice in several Betway Premiership teams who opt to look outside the border for a number-one goalie including Nigerian Stanley Nwabali of Chippa United, Golden Arrows’ Ismail Watenga who originates from Uganda and Ugandan international Richard Ofori who dethroned Veli Mothwa at AmaZulu.
Speaking to SABC Sport during the announcement of the final Bafana 23-member squad for the upcoming qualifiers, Broos expressed his concerns about the future of goalkeepers for the national team in the upcoming years.
He added that Ronwen Williams (33), Sage Stephens (33), Ricardo Goss (30) and Sipho Chaine (28) will soon have to pass the torch but the current system is not in favour of developing the next generation of shot-stoppers.
“It’s already a concern for two years. I’m looking two years for young talented South African goalkeepers but when you see also in PSL, there are a lot of clubs who have foreign goalkeepers and the young South African goalkeepers are second or third in the ranking.
“It’s difficult for us to find them. When I hear also that the formation [development] of goalkeepers has to be better in South Africa. We don’t really have the big talented talents for the moment. So that’s also only for the youngest.
“When you see the goalkeepers for Bafana Bafana, they’re all 29, 30 and older. So, we have to renew that part of the team. But we don’t have the possibilities to do it.”
The Belgian coach urged teams to exercise patience with local goalkeepers by giving them a fair chance to prove themselves, making an example with Kaizer Chiefs’ Bruce Bvuma who was replaced by Rwandan keeper Fiacre Ntwari as the club’s first choice before eventually earning his spot back after Ntwari was sidelined with an injury.
“Bruma was with us [Bafana] four years ago but suddenly lost his position at Chiefs [to Ntwari], they gave him a chance and look at how he’s playing now. Give those guys the opportunity to develop,” he concluded.