Snl24 | Stellies: A Hunting Ground For The ‘Big Three’

Deano van Rooyen has joined Orlando Pirates from Stellenbosch.

Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images

Stellenbosch FC have proven to be the gift that keeps on giving and the big guns of South African football have benefitted over the last few years.

But what if Stellies had not sold their stars to their PSL rivals in recent years? Surely they’d have a squad capable of at least challenging for the Premiership title. If they were able to finish third in the league last season, there’s no telling what they could have done if they had not sold players such as Ashley Du Preez, Zitha Kwinika, Mbongiseni Mthethwa, Junior Mendieta, Ibraheem Jabaar, Olwethu Makhanya, and Mogamad de Goede.

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This season alone, for example, they have sold Deano van Rooyen, Iqraam Rayners and Antonio van Wyk is expected to make a move to Austria, while Jayden Adams and Fawaaz Basadien have attracted genuine interest from Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs respectively. They could let go of Basadien if Amakhosi come with the right offer but Stellies might not see it as a train smash because they have shown in the past that they are business savvy, as they have now brought in Lehlohonolo Mojela, Sanele Barns, Brian Onyango, Omega Mdaka and Ashley Cupido to replace what they have lost during the transfer window. The only challenge is how Stellies have probably weakened their chances of challenging for the league title or other knockout competitions on a regular basis.

Football, of course, is a business, especially for smaller clubs that do not have budgets as big as Sundowns, Chiefs or Orlando Pirates. So, a club like Stellies sometimes have no choice but to sell some of their best players. But it would certainly have been a different story if they had not sold some of these star players.

Former Stellies player Diego Brown believes the club would be competing with the big guns of South African football had they not sold their stars to Gauteng sides.

“The club should definitely be competing alongside the big teams in South Africa, easily. If we look back at all the quality players they have let go of or sold to big teams, like Du Preez ,Van Roooyen, Rayners, Mendieta, De Goede and Ox (Mthethwa), those are all great players without a doubt. But it leaves us with some question marks to say why do they let them go? Or are they just developing for other big teams?”

Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi has been keeping a close eye on the progress of Stellenbosch over the years and has been impressed with how they’ve been able to replace players they sell. He does, however, warn that they could turn out to be like Maritzburg United (now Durban City), who sold many of their stars and ended up going down to the second tier of South African football.

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“To be honest, they (Stellenbosch) have grown in leaps and bounds as a team. One anticipated that they would do very well and one was proven right. They have grown in leaps and bounds, probably even in creating a nice pipeline for their team in terms of recruitment. When you see a player like Mojela in their team, then you already know that they anticipated that if they were to lose some of their key players, it would be important (to have replacements). When they brought in a player like (Sanele) Barns, you know that they are a team that understands itself and they always want to make sure that they are stronger in that space,” Mngqithi said earlier this week, ahead of their MTN8 clash first leg semi-final against Stellies.

“Personally, I don’t think they have lost that much, but if they were to lose the same number of players, maybe two or three seasons in a row, that’s when problems might start. I think this is how it even happened at Maritzburg, where they did very well, but when they started getting used to this thing of selling three or four players per season, it starts to create problems in the long run. But at the moment, I think they are still in a very good space.”