Sundowns Accused of Unethically Poaching Cape Town Spurs' players

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JOHANNESBURG: It is no secret that the Brazilians have deep pockets compared to their DSTV rivals.

DSTV Premiership outfit Cape Town Spurs has written a scathing letter to Mamelodi Sundowns, accusing the reigning Premier Soccer League (PSL) champions of poaching their development players at the famous Ikamva academy, according to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Sports senior reporter Mazola Molefe.

It is no secret that the Brazilians have deep pockets compared to their DSTV rivals. Therefore, the club’s financial muscles allow them to acquire nearly every player they want. This has landed them on the bad books of Spurs, who are not taking the matter lying down, the move aimed at protecting their investments.

In the letter, Spurs say they have reached out to Rulani Mokwena’s club on two occasions (with the latest one being a week ago) after the Brazilians had recruited their 12-year-old Hlumile Tshaka. However, reads the letter, Sundowns did not acknowledge their communication.

This appears to have rubbed the Urban Warriors the wrong way, thereby cajoling them into penning the letter to Sundowns, who are also the reigning African Football League (AFL) champions, to have their concerns addressed.

Chief among their concerns is that the Tshwane giants are making it a practice to use Ikamva as their ‘hunting ground’ for talent. The other concern, goes Molefe’s report, is that the Western Cape side is unhappy with scouts who are in cohorts with Sundowns in this practice of poaching their players.

“Sundowns have embarked on a strategy to recruit the best players in the country to strengthen the youth structures at Chloorkop. We have therefore taken the necessary steps to inform them, in writing, our disappointment on the way that they have conducted themselves in so doing. We have no choice but to bring to their attention that their staff, such as Tera Maliwa, or any other scouting members are prohibited from entering our premises and are no longer welcome,” goes the letter as per the SABC report.

“Our concerns have further been fuelled by certain agents who are part of this strategy to assist in the poaching of our young talent to a club like Sundowns. They too have been barred from Ikamva. Sundowns is currently a force in SA football and has built a reputation of the highest standard.”

These events will surely influence relations between the two clubs going forward.

Historically, Spurs’ business model has been to develop players and sell them, both locally and internationally. Time will tell whether these recent events have affected their business relationship with Sundowns.