Real Kings FC: proudly representing KZN
As newcomers in South African football’s professional ranks, not too much is known about the 2015/16 ABC Motsepe League champions. PSL.co.za caught up with Managing Director Philani Majola and put the following questions to him:
PSL.co.za: Could you start off please by telling us where the club is based, and how long it has been in existence?
Philani Majola: We are based in the Mpumalanga / Hammarsdale location [in the KZN Midlands]. We bought the club in 2013, I’m not sure when the original club was founded. It was called Kings United, before we changed the name to Real Kings FC.
When the current owners purchased the club, it was already campaigning in the Second Division/ ABC Motsepe League. We participated in that division for two and a half seasons before being promoted after the end of last season.
PSL.co.za: So you have managed to achieve a lot in a short space of time. Just how difficult was it to gain promotion?
Philani Majola: Yes, the play-offs in Bloemfontein in July were our first, although we have been close to challenging for league honours in the KZN Second Division before we won the title last season; the team has been competitive from the time the current owners took charge.
The Second Division is a very difficult league. There is not much financial support – club owners must pay out their own pocket to feed the players, to get a club-house, etcetera. It’s a very competitive league, with only the nine champions from the different streams going to the play-offs. We are very proud of our achievement as we are the first club from KZN in 14 years to reach the NFD via the Second Division play-offs.
PSL.co.za: There were no recognizable names in terms of NFD or PSL experience that jumped out from your team-sheet in the opening NFD clash against Royal Eagles. Have you mainly gone for local talent, and how many of the players from last season’s promotion winning side have been maintained?
Philani Majola: Yes, a lot of the players are local. We do have some players from the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and Cape Town, as well as one from Tanzania. We have kept 18 of the 24 players from last season’s squad. Three were sold to PSL clubs, to Orlando Pirates and Platinum Stars. Thobani Kunene, who has gone to Stars, was our top striker last season with 31 goals in 32 matches.
Our philosophy and culture is not about signing known players. People have said we lack inexperience, but why change a winning formula. We will however assess things after five games and see if we need any additional signings. But so far we have made an encouraging start with last week’s 1-1 draw away to Royal Eagles, who only scored through an own goal by Real Kings!
? PSL.co.za: Your head coach, Simo Dladla, a former KZN PSL player, how long has he been with the team? ?
Philani Majola: The coach has been with us from the very beginning when we took over the club in 2013. We think it is important to have consistency in both the playing staff and the technical team. Our assistant coach is Siya Mdluli, who has returned to the club after coaching Maritzburg United’s MDC team last season.
PSL.co.za: Now you are set to set to play your very first NFD home game, when Kings welcome Santos to the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium on Saturday. Are you hoping for a good turnout of support?
Philani Majola: Yes, we are hopeful. It’s still a work in progress, but we are happy with the support we are receiving so far. We hope to have at least 2500 seats filled on Saturday of what is a 6000-seater stadium. We realize though that football support in this country does not come easy, and that it takes effort to achieve this.
But we hope that locals will get behind the team, we wish for them to love this club. Last week we only received our ticket allocation for the away match to Eagles on Friday, yet we quickly sold out the 300 tickets, with others still looking for tickets. So that was encouraging and we hope for a good turnout this weekend and for the Mbombela United match after that.