Highbury pen three-year twinning deal with NMU

Motsepe Foundation Championship side Highbury FC have secured a twinning deal with Nelson Mandela University after the parties signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the 2nd Avenue campus this week.

Highbury will now use the 2nd Avenue facilities as their training ground but will continue playing their league matches at the Gelvandale Stadium.

The three-year MOU aims to establish a strategic joint venture to develop a high-performance football programme. 

This initiative aligns with the university’s vision to be a leader in sport, education and youth development in the Eastern Cape and SA.

The key objectives of the agreement are to enhance football excellence through shared resources, coaching and facilities and empower student-athletes with academic and athletic pathways.

Another aim is strengthening NMU’s competitiveness in Varsity Football and USSA competitions, supporting youth development and professional football pipelines via Highbury.

Highbury chair Cameron Klopper said the partnership would open up  a bigger pool for his club in terms of player recruitment in the future.

The Gqeberha-based side are fourth on the Motsepe Foundation Championships log with nine points from five games.

They remain unbeaten in the league season, having played to three draws and two victories.

“We used to train out of and play our fixtures at this facility when we were in the Vodacom League,” Klopper said.

“So, the partnership has been ongoing but the agreement hadn’t been signed, and today we made it official, and it feels great.

“I am sure that this partnership will also invite better players through the varsity to come and study and it will give them a platform and an opportunity to be scouted by Highbury directly instead of having the trials.

“We have been monitoring the team. We have a few players who trained with us. So, we will be looking at players from this university.” 

The university has committed to sharing its  facilities with the Motsepe Championship side, such as the 2nd Avenue football field, pavilion, conference room, entertainment area, Madibaz high-performance centre (HPC) and fitness and aquatics centre.

It will also assist the team with academic support and monitoring for football players through internship and work-integrated learning opportunities for sport management students, access to coaching education, CAF-accredited courses, broader student engagement through football-related research and media internships.

In return, NMU hopes the Yellow Nation will help develop their football to reach greater heights at Varsity Sport, USSA competition level, Safa-NMB Regional League, National First Division (NFD) and LFA Youth Development Leagues (U15, U17, U19) level.

Madibaz Sport director Vuyo Bongela said the mandate was to offer students an opportunity to assist them in academic success. 

“It’s been proven that students who play sports do well academically. 

“So, if you bring it down now to football itself, which is one of the 23 sports we have at Madibaz Sport, partnerships like these help us strengthen what we offer students.

“If you look at just the landscape generally in SA sport, we get our students from schools where some don’t play sport.

“So, we get students who want to play football, for example, but who have never had the experience.

“So, you will find that because of that, we then don’t place in the top five of Varsity Football.

“How do we then make sure that we strengthen the calibre of students we have received from schools that have the talent, but it has never been nurtured?

“We can’t do that alone as a university; partnerships like the one with Highbury Football Club ensure that not only do we use our own limited resources, but we can also partner with others.”

Sharon Masiza, senior director at the Missionvale, 2nd Avenue and Bird Street campuses, said: “This is really going to help us position this campus as one of the best campuses within the university as well, but also I think it’s going to help us to improve our student life and experiences.”

The Herald