Baloyi calls for use of local keepers

Egypt’s national senior team is reaping the rewards of a broader selection from the 16 teams in their Premier League.

Baloyi is pleading with the South African Football Association (Safa) and the PSL to have a round table discussion to implement the same model to revive the poor state goalkeepers in the country. 

Baloyi insists there is a goalkeeping crisis in the country, and it will not abate any time soon. 

“If you look now in the PSL, more than 50% of the clubs are playing with foreign goalkeepers, but the quality of the foreign goalkeepers is questionable as well. Do we have a problem with the goalkeepers? Yes, ” Baloyi told SABC Sport. 

Rather than sit on his backside, the 48-year-old Chiefs legend is working to improve the country's current state. 

“On my side, I have started something little on the corner by launching a goalkeeping academy to try and develop the next generation of goalkeepers.

But the biggest challenge is that clubs do not allow them to play. Most of us, myself, Moeneeb Josephs, and Andre Arendse, started playing professional football at the age of 17 years and ended up playing for Bafana.

The clubs want to start playing young goalkeepers in their twenties. Check in the National First Division (NFD), and more than 50% of the goalkeepers are foreigners. For many years I have been a fan of that model (Egyptian) and believe it could work if implemented in the PSL,” explained Baloyi.

Furthermore, Baloyi argued that South Africa's reliance on Chiefs goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune the first-choice goalkeeper for so many years at Bafana is hurting the country. 

“If I go back to 2010, it is the biggest problem that we started to rely on Khune for too long without developing other goalkeepers. There was no proper competition for him to a point where he started feeling that he owned the jersey, and when he got injured, it took us a long time to recover, and it became a problem,” said Baloyi.

Baloyi added Safa and the PSL must swallow their pride and work together to address the problem, and not cut any corners. 

“We know they do not see eye-to-eye, and hopes of having this kind of discussion are doomed, and it won’t happen.

If we are to subscribe to the notion that goalkeeping is the most vital position on the field, then we have to invest in our goalkeeper starting at the grass root level,” concluded Baloyi.

By Charles Baloyi