PE firm revolutionises registration of players
Online system simplifies process with national soccer database
APORT Elizabeth-based start-up has been appointed as the mastermind behind an online technology that has revolutionised the registration of soccer players at national level.
The system, developed for the national football association Safa by sports tech company Inqaku, has already registered thousands of players across the country in a bid to simplify the process and reduce cheating in the sport.
“The system, MYSAFA, is linked to the Department of Home Affairs to verify if the person registering exists,” Inqaku founder Craig Rivett said.
Inqaku works closely with AvoChoc, another company Rivett co-founded locally.
“We’ve seen people lie about their ID numbers or try to play in the wrong age groups, while others play for multiple clubs or regions.
“The system doesn’t make cheating impossible, but it is certainly more difficult.”
Previously, this was harder to track as registration took place at local level with no central database.
“Only a handful of countries have a centralised system, so Safa is driving ahead quickly. They are laying a foundation that the rest of the developing world can copy.”
The system was first tested last year at a junior football tournament for 64 schools in Motherwell.
“Afterwards, we reported back to Safa on what we had learned. The software for MYSAFA was easy to build [after that], but getting people to use it was the harder part. It wasn’t a case of ‘build it and they will come’.”
A pilot version of MYSAFA was launched in the Bay, with 7 000 players being registered at club level.
“Players are registered at local level, but their membership is approved at regional level. We are also actively involved in all provinces, conducting training to make sure people are equipped to register.”
A registration window opened at the end of last month, as all players for the SAB and ABC Motsepe leagues must be registered.
“It is now part of Safa’s internal law that all players in these leagues must have cards,” Rivett said.
“The cards are printed centrally in Johannesburg, which is cutting printing costs in half at the very least, as printing locally was quite expensive.”
The system will also help with talent scouting. “It provides a full overview of who is playing and where, which means [it is possible to] identify talent earlier and younger. In five years we could start feeding players into the national team.”
Rivett said he was particularly passionate about the project, as he believed football brought unity to the country.
“There is a national optimism in [this] sport. When your favourite team is on television, it doesn’t matter where you are from, and no other sport can [unite people] on this scale. Football will change the country – and we want to help.”
Safa Nelson Mandela Bay regional executive officer Nkosinathi Faaltein is also convinced of the system’s worth.
“We have been pleased with the MYSAFA system so far,” Faaltein said.
“It is in its early stages but already you can see how it will benefit the association in many ways. Having a true web-based system for the first time means that LFAs can be connected and empowered to do their own registration data entry.
“It also fights many forms of cheating and has significantly lowered our card printing costs.” Safa has also praised the system. “Once you start using it, there is no going back to the old methods of registering players,” Faaltein said.
“The process of registering a player is made so simple we can see that in the near future it will be feasible for a player to re-register him or herself.”
We have been pleased with the MYSAFA system so far