Chief On A Mission To Nurture Football Talent For SA

Chief Mongi Rula, who is a former South African professional footballer, is on a mission to unearth talent from the Eastern Cape with a view of helping talented youngsters to realise their dream of playing in Mzansi’s top-flight.

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Born in Flagstaff in the Eastern Cape, Rula became the only professional footballer of his time from the area when he played for Umtata Bucks    

Following his retirement from playing professional football at the turn of the century, Rula took over as the Chief of Flagstaff.  

Rula is looking at unearthing talent from his area of Flagstaff through the Inkosi Mongi Rula Goodwill Games scheduled for this weekend. The inaugural games will cover different codes from football, netball, cultural events and others.

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The games have been scheduled to take place at the Ndaliso Sports Grounds in Flagstaff this weekend from 14-16 September 2018.

Mzansi football legends such as Cyril Nzama, Thabo Mngomeni, Abel Shongwe and Jerry Sikhosana are some of the former professional players invited to attend the event, according to Rula. 

“The games will start from 14 to 16 September 2018. We have decided on staging these games so that we could encourage the youth from our area be involved in sports. It is important for the youth to know that sport is important and that it could be a tool to help the youth to build their futures and life. We are in rural areas here and some people don’t realise that sport could be a tool to mould the lives of the youth. We will focus mainly on soccer and netball in the first year of the games. We will also have cultural activities,” Rula told the Siya crew.