KZN’s ‘Rich Boyz’ not for sale, owner Biyela warns
RICHARDS Bay FC secured promotion to the Premiership for the first time in the club’s history after playing to a goalless draw in their final match of the season and were crowned GladAfrica Championship winners of the 2021/22 season on Sunday.
In the midst of all the celebrations at the King Zwelithini Stadium, the Natal Rich Boyz owner Sfiso ‘Jomo’ Biyela took time to address the club’s supporters and assured those present that the club was not up for sale at any price.
“This club is not for sale, this is my club and there’s no offer on earth that I could possibly consider,” Biyela stated.
“Therefore, to anyone that’s even dreaming about making an offer for this club, I can assure you now that you are wasting your time.”
The KwaZulu-Natal club’s future caused a stir among football fans as varied permutations did the rounds before their final match.
Reminders of Thanda Royal Zulu, who were crowned champions in 2017 but opted to sell their status to AmaZulu FC, flooded the minds of many KZN football supporters, but Biyela eased all of their concerns, including those of his players.
Khetha Shabalala, who has been a rock in the heart of defence for the National First Division champions, paid tribute to Biyela and his leadership.
“We are very pleased with our chairman’s announcement. This is an opportunity to fulfil a lot of our childhood dreams for a lot of us and
for him to reward us for everything we’ve given throughout the season is remarkable,” Shabalala said.
“The chairman has been very supportive throughout the season. As much as he lets the coach do his job, sometimes he would pitch up at training sessions just to remind us of our goals and offer us incentives for when we do reach them.”
Shabalala was one part of the strongest defence in the Championship. Richards Bay finished the campaign having conceded the least number of goals in the league, and the colossal Shabalala believes the difficult periods they experienced during the season pulled them closer together.
“We had an incredibly difficult season because there aren’t any easy games in this league. We have had to remain positive through injuries and bad results,” he said.
“The key to our season was definitely our consistency in performances; we could almost predict our starting 11 the majority of the time.”