Baxter defends training venue at rich school
Bafana Bafana’s use of the fields of the school that services the luxury Steyn City housing estate as a training venue this week, ahead of their Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Seychelles, has raised more than a few eyebrows.
However, Bafana coach Stuart Baxter has said the fields were the best Bafana could find from a technical point of view to match the fast movement of the ball SA will try to employ on Saturday at FNB Stadium.
Steyn City‚ in Midrand‚ just north of affluent Fourways‚ is one of Johannesburg’s most expensive housing estates.
Properties can range in price from a two-bedroom apartment at R3m to a five-bedroom house for R25m.
For Bafana‚ who trained at Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu for their last match the 0-0 Afcon qualifying draw against Libya in Durban in September it does not seem like a setting that encapsulates taking the game to the people.
Apparently Baxter and SA Football Association (Safa) technical director Neil Tovey were behind the decision to use Steyn City’s adjoining school as a training venue.
On occasion in the past Baxter has shown himself to be out of touch with the message sent out by his decisions, such as the unpopular appointment of Quinton Fortune as an assistant coach‚ or his son Lee Baxter as a replacement goalkeeper-coach against Libya.
The coach seemed irritated when asked why Steyn City was selected when Johannesburg has many pitches with good surfaces. He said on technical grounds the fast surface at Steyn School was the motivating factor as Bafana are preparing for a fast-paced‚ mobile game against Seychelles at FNB.
“The surface is the best that we can get. I’ve asked them to water it so it’s fast‚ and I want to play a fast game against Seychelles because they may not be able to keep up with that tempo‚” Baxter said.
“We have a failing at times that even though we can‚ we don’t drive the tempo‚ and then people can get behind the ball and we have to pick our way through them.”
On the message that training at affluent Steyn City might be sending out‚ Baxter said: “About taking the game to the people‚ I haven’t really got a clue what that is.
“This is a national training before an international game. We’re not thinking about playing politics‚ we’re not thinking about anything else other than preparing the players for the game.
“England go and train at Arsenal‚ or they go to St Georges [Park‚ England’s training centre]. They lock themselves away and you can’t get anywhere near their team for two weeks before a game.
“So taking the game to the people? Well of course we can. We can go and train in the townships on a bad pitch‚ and then we can have lots of people who think we’re very clever.
“But then when we lose the game they won’t be very kind to us at all,” Baxter said.
The choice of Steyn City School may have raised eyebrows‚ but the facility‚ and especially the pristine pitch‚ is nothing but world-class.
Groups of primary school children gathered on the banks overlooking the field to watch Bafana in training this week.
The school’s operations manager‚ George Cockeran‚ said it was an honour to have its field chosen by Bafana. Currently Steyn City School — it opened its doors in January — consists of a preprimary and a primary school‚ with a high school being built.
The school offers soccer as a sport. It has three brand-new fields and is building more.
“Soccer is probably our main sport at present‚” Cockeran said.
Safa noticed the school’s facilities when it hosted an internal tournament for the Steyn City estate and one of the Bafana technical staff attended the event, he said.