Cape Town — South African Football Association (Safa) will honour the much-loved former Bafana Bafana coach Clive 'The Dog' Barker, who passed away on Saturday.
Danny Jordaan, the Safa president, said there are plans to honour Barker through some of the programmes that the Association has, especially in the Safa Academy, youth courses and scouting, among others.
“We met with the family, and we were happy to be there during this difficult time,” said Jordaan, who flew in from Morocco after watching the African Champions League final on Saturday evening.
“We will always remember Clive and will honour him with several other initiatives, including the Safa/Clive Barker Academy.”
Jordaan was joined by the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Zizi Kodwa and former Bafana Bafana captain Neil Tovey who visited Barker’s family in Glenwood in Durban on Monday.
“We want to celebrate this life but in doing so we thought we should come to the family and hear their wishes,” said Kodwa.
Safa Technical Director Walter Steenbok confirmed that some of the plans were approved at the last Safa Congress.
“The Safa Academy will be renamed Safa/Clive Barker Academy, which is going to deliver specialised courses in youth, conditioning, scouting, performance and data analysis and other emerging courses in modern football,” said Steenbok.
“It will fall under Safa Education, which includes coach education and the Safa Academy.
"Coach education offers CAF-accredited courses from CAF D to CAF Pro, including goalkeeping. The Safa Academy deals with specialised courses.”
IOL Sport