Safa Cape Town’s Third Division League is definitely not for the faint hearted!
After all, it’s not dubbed the ‘Graveyard’ league for nothing.
One club in particular that can testify to this after they have underestimated the demands and cutthroat nature of it, is Camps Bay FC.
The Atlantic Seaboard-based outfit, who acquired the Third Division status of Jamestown United a couple of seasons ago, were humbled and soon came to realisation that it requires more than just financial muscle to survive as the then head coach Dougie Williams and Head of Youth, Anees Abbas, could not retain its status after two seasons in the league.
This is why the club’s chairman Marcel Golding has reached out to the best in the business in Boebie Solomons to help rebuild the club’s youth structure and to transform it into a credible entity and football powerhouse again.
Solomons, no stranger to football in the Mother City and the broader South Africa is arguably one of the most successful coaches in the game who has been around forever.
His credentials speak for themselves from local to international which includes qualifications from English and German Coaching Courses, a KNVB DUTCH Coach Education Diploma, FIFA FUTURO Courses, Brazilian Advanced Coaching Course, CAF A-Licence, CAF/SAFA Coaching instructor as well as a FIFA youth coaching course
At the age of 70 years ‘Asem’ – as he is called during his playing days due to his fitness and stamina – Solomons still has a lot to offer and should undoubtedly add value to Camps Bay FC.
Solomons, who regularly jokes that he is 50 years old going 70 years, has been there and even got more than one shirt to show for it.
‘Boebie’ as he is affectionately known, was also the braintrust behind the successful set-up and transformation of the youth structure at Stellenbosch FC in the Cape Winelands which he started a few years ago.
Not to mention his success as coach of PSL clubs like the now defunct Wits University and Bloemfontein Celtic in his heyday as coach.
And albeit on a local front, one can draw strong parallels between Solomons and the highly acclaimed and successful former Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, whom at the age of 76 years, shows no signs of slowing down.
Solomons explained the rationale behind his move to Camps Bay and how it came about that he was roped in by Golding.
“This move is a few years in the making already when I had discussion with the chairman Marcel Golding about football and the development,” Solomons told No Bones with Jones. “The club obviously feels they can do better than what they are currently doing and also to improve the youth structure. They also thought that they needed a new face and a different methodology and maybe some fresh ideas in order for the club – that has huge potential – to be better positioned and to become a household name again.
“I assessed the project and with the resources that Camps Bay have, their location, and the potential that they have, they are not reaching the levels they ought to, in my opinion, you know. I gave them advice on setting up a new structure, setting up an academy structure whereby the coaches get uplifted and u/upgraded, whereby they need to learn how to develop and improve players, individually and not just the team.
Solomons aims to implement a strategy which Belgium adopted 10 years ago which yielded bug success and saw them rise to the number one footballing country in the world under Roberto Martinez.
“Belgium used the Player centered approach instead of Team centred,” Solomons further explained. “They educated their players, did not train them and the philosophy suited their players and not vice versa. In my opinion, I think this is an area where more can be done in our football, you know.
“Our coaches, and myself included, I’ve realised that perhaps we focus too much on the team aspect as we are looking and focussed on results. Because when the team does well, we automatically think that the team has improved – of course it did in terms of winning but did the players improve individually and holistically?
“Did they understand their induvial roles which could count against them in the future? Do they know how to behave in different moments of the game? Things like when a team is in possession and when they don’t have possession.
“Also, the transition period when they win the ball and also the transition when they lose the ball. Do they know how to get the ball back? Also using different strategies to get the ball back such as the high press and also the medium press.
“And say for instance when you are one or two goals up and you want to see the game out, what type of strategy will you apply in order to manage the game, you know.
“All this has to start at a young age and not at a senior level because they should perfect at senior level what they have learnt and been exposed to at grassroots and junior level, you know,” Solomons concluded.
