Stellies' drive to bring change in SA football - Benadie

Benadie, who is the youngest member of the Premier Soccer League’s Executive Committee wants the Winelands’ club to be an advocate for positive change in the local game.

Speaking to SABC Sport, Benadie says despite the hard work that lies ahead, there’s reason to be optimistic about the future of the sport in the country. 

"I think there is optimism but there's also a lot of, I don't want to call is sadness but there is a lot of disappointment I think in how we are doing at the moment. Talking about South African football,” Benadie said.

“It's a good thing in a sense that we know we can be much better and my challenge is just to make sure that at our club at Stellenbosch Football Club for example, the better we can become,” he added.

“The more consistent we can become to build a proper club, share information that we think might be useful to other clubs. That's what we are going to do. To put pressure on other people to also lift their game. At the end of the day just a lot of people that know that the power of football is long term game,” he explained.

“It's way beyond you and I, it's going to be around forever that's for sure. It's not like a company; you know you see great companies disbanding and disappearing after 100 years. Football is always going to be there,"

November marked a year since Benadie’s PSL Exco membership, where he’s been able to be alongside key decision-makers in the best leagues of Sub-Saharan Africa. In June he was appointed as one of the four PSL members of the National Executive Committee. Roles Benadie is not taking lightly.

"To me it's a big honour. I really didn't expect it to be honest. I didn't expect it and I think again you know I love that African saying of Ubuntu, 'I am because we are'. I am on the NEC and I am on the PSL Exco because I'm the CEO of Stellenbosch Football Club. Hopefully the next person also has the drive to be part of leadership. So, I'm very happy to be there, I'm honoured to be there and I want to make a difference.

I feel like I haven't even hit second gear yet, you know what I mean. That's why these types of things are very good for me as well to learn to pick up information from media people, from other people what they think about the football. What's going on in our country. Being on those platforms surely gives me an opportunity to try and make a difference. So, that's the aim here," he concluded.