It is facilities that maketh a club

21. Apr, 2009 View Comments

Kaizer Chiefs broke new ground in local soccer when they became the first club to custom build their headquarters and training centre, the Kaizer Chiefs Village in Naturena. Then Ajax Cape Town followed suit with their impressive Ikamva training centre in Cape Town.

Clubs have to invest in these facilities if they have any aspirations of working towards becoming world-class entities. By investing in their training centres clubs not only add value to their club on the balance sheet but also help to maintain their main assets, the players. They need an environment where they can recuperate and train in tranquillity with all the facilities they need.

An ambitious club like Mamelodi Sundowns, which has the backing of its Fortune Magazine-ranked owner, has to set the standard in this regard. Although the club’s current base at Chloorkop is adequate by local standards, it is light years away from being world-class. Sundowns raised the bar as far as player remuneration was concerned when they signed Peter Ndlovu, the Zimbabwean ace, for a reported R165 000 monthly salary and renegotiated all their players contracts to make them the highest paid in the land.

This raised the stakes and now monthly salaries of R70 000 plus per exist at most PSL clubs. Sundowns can also lead the way with their training centre. They would do well just to match the best training facilities of African Clubs like the magnificent training facilities of Esperance Sportive de Tunis, which are the match of any mid-level European soccer club. However, one would expect Sundowns to model itself on the very best the world.

To really raise the game, a club like Sundowns has to model its training centre on Real Madrid’s state of the art Real Madrid City, otherwise known as Valdebebas, the biggest sports facility of its kind ever built by a sports club. Obviously Sundowns should aim for a scaled down version of this outstanding complex. This would catapult a club like Sundowns into the 21st Century. It would be an enduring asset that would assist in nurturing future Sundowns professionals and supporters alike well into the distant future.

Like Valdebebas, the training centre would serve as an example of an eco-friendly investment sensitive to the issue of global warming which would be a pioneering move for a South African soccer club. For example at Valdebebas 60% of the potable hot water is produced by solar energy. Imagine Sundowns investing in an environmentally friendly state of the art training facility. It would take the other clubs years to catch up.