There shouldn’t be any issue with regard to Bayview FC’s purchase of Black Birds Academy’s Hollywoodbets Third Division status.
This is the expectation of the club’s owner and Chairman Mark Rodriques (pictured) following his plans to take over the status of Black Birds’ senior side.
“The matter is currently with the region of Safa Cape Town to give their blessing,” Rodriques informed No Bones with Jones. “But I don’t see an issue – it should go through – but one must do one’s due diligence, but I don’t foresee any problems.” he added.
Given Rodriques’ assurance that the sale is a formality, it will mean that Bayview FC will be playing under the name of Black Birdsfor the 2024/’25 season due to their application only being submitted after 1 August which is the cut-off date to apply for a name change at the Mother body.
Furthermore, Bayview will now have to travel to the Overberg region – where the Nyanga-based Black Birds plied their trade – to honour their Third Division fixtures – as was the case with other clubs from the Cape such as Spain Academy and Fleetwood Academy in the past.
The passionate Rodriques did not shy away and admitted that he is all too aware it will be easier to possibly win promotion from the Third Division to the Motsepe League in the Overberg region as the competition is not as cutthroat as it is in Safa Cape Town’s competitions – already hinting at a two-year plan to get to the Motsepe League.
“Our first season will be to consolidate and in the second year we will go for the playoff spot and to make sure we can compete against the likes of Vasco and Hanover Parks. That is the main reason – the other reason, to be frank, it is much cheaper to buy that side and also easier to win the league.
“Things in the Overberg get done differently, like for instance, you don’t need to have two junior, two senior sides to constitute a club,” Rodriques further stated. “You don’t have to be a club to belong to their local LFA. You can just have status as well to form part of their structures.
“They don’t also play with the ‘Unders rule’ but that doesn’t really matter to us as we are all about and for ‘under-soccer’ and never about the overs. We promote junior soccer here at our club and not senior soccer,” he added.
The Strandfontein outfit have shown in the past they have what it takes to attain success following their triumph in the Coke Cup in 2017. Besides, Bayview is no stranger to the graveyard league as the Third Division is known and you wouldn’t want to bet against them to gun for promotion especially now that they are in the Overberg which is deemed less strenuous than in the Cape Metropole.
“And their statuses are also much cheaper than in Cape Town,” Rodriques conceded. “Look, let me make it clear, my intention with the purchase is to give the youth in Mitchells Plain another opportunity – not just Bayview players, but anyone from Mitchells Plain.
“It is an opportunity for players from other clubs in Mitchells Plain as well because there is no Third Division team at this stage because of Woodlands United being relegated. So, the idea is to give youngsters the opportunity to excel at the highest levels – and that’s it.
“Look, nothing will change as we will still be based in Mitchells Plain, we will train in Mitchells Plain. Most of our players come from Mitchells Plain. So, we just take a team up every Saturday to compete. I know some people don’t like what I say but I don’t care. It all happened in the space of two weeks. It was never on my radar. I just got a phone call and it’s because we have a relationship, the deal happened,” Rodriques concluded.
Meanwhile, Blackbirds’ chairman Eric Mulugweni admitted that they are struggling to compete due to the lack of quality players – hence they are selling.
“We also lost players to Zizwe (United) who are in the Second Division and we cannot stand in the way of players as it is a higher division,” Mulugweni said to No Bones with Jones. “So, it is in the best interest to sell to someone that you know well and Mark has shown he is a true football man,” he added.
