Coach Owen Da Gama has shared his experience of coaching in the ABC Motsepe League before his appointment as Magesi FC mentor.
The ‘Rubberdol’, as he is popularly known, was named as the Vondwe XI Bullets head coach at the beginning of the 2024/25 SAFA Limpopo ABC Motsepe season.
His tenure at Vondwe started with a defeat 1-0 defeat to Munaca FC. However, Da Gama was able to turn things around for the better.
The former Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana coach leaves the Limpopo club on top of Stream A with 15 points after eight matches. In those eight games, Vondwe managed to secure four wins, draw three, and lost one.
WHAT OWEN DA GAMA SAID ABOUT COACHING IN ABC MOTSEPE LEAGUE
Having spent four months at the helm of Vondwe, Da Gama revealed that coaching in the SA third tier was a great experience in his coaching career.
However, he went on to state that it wasn’t a walk in the park guiding an amateur team and the conditions in the Motsepe League were not “conducive” as he had to adapt quickly to life in the lower division.
“It was a brilliant experience. You know, a coach should be able to coach at any level. There are coaches who want to coach in the PSL, but they haven’t coached at any level before,” Da Gama told journalists in Polokwane.
“I mean, I have won every league. I have won the ABC Motsepe League with Silver Stars, and I have won the NFD three times. Now, Vondwe XI Bullets, which has been struggling and finishing sixth in the league, when the opportunity came, I said, “Let’s give it a shot,” and they are on top of the log now and have won two local tournaments over the Christmas holidays.
“I’m just happy that I could add value and coach at that level. As a coach, you have to adapt because the conditions there were not very conducive, including the fields.”
The 63-year-old continued: “Most importantly, I wanted to be in that league to see the quality, and I saw some quality players. I will tell you that Limpopo has quality players. It’s just a matter of searching and looking hard. I was very happy to be exposed to see the quality that is there.”
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