Ex-Pirates player Morton weighs in on why PSL lacks white players

Ex-Pirates player Morton weighs in on why PSL lacks white players

Former Orlando Pirates and AmaZulu midfielder Michael Morton has given his opinion on why the Premier Soccer League has fewer white soccer players today.

This comes after Bafana Bafana defender Matthew Booth touched on the topic of the lack of white players in South African football. The tall defender said it was more of a class issue than a racial issue.

Morton, who is a product of Pirates youth academy took to X(Twitter) to join in the discussion. The 34-year-old veteran midfielder is one of the few white players in the PSL.

“I think I may be qualified to enter this conversation,” the Cape Town Spurs man said on his X account.

“I don’t think the problem is as guys get to 18 or 19 years old. Those players, once they’ve reached that point, they’re going to the next level.

“It’s more so at 13 and 14 where they make the jump to high school. The old traditional ”Model C“ white schools don’t take football very seriously, and I think we lose a lot of very talented footballers in that jump where they have to choose between cricket, rugby and a whole bunch of other sports and football is not really taken that seriously.”

Morton said many young white players stop taking football seriously once they get to high school.

“Community-run clubs are also struggling financially and the level is not that great. I think we are losing a lot of talented footballers in that period.

“That’s my personal experience. I’ve played with a lot of talented guys that when they jumped to high school, didn’t carry on playing football.”

Morton and Matthew Booth give reasons why SA lacks white soccer players

In his interview with Shakes Rampedi, Booth gave more insight into reasons white players are nowhere to be seen in the PSL.

“For me, it’s more of a class issue, it’s not a colour issue. We’re losing kids of all colours who are middle class and upper class. But just visually, it seems like there is very few white players,” he said.

“If you go down to any amateur club in Johannesburg, for example, it’s a rainbow of colours; white, black, coloured, Indian, you name it. And then you see a definite change, it’s not a colour issue.”

In the 90s and 2000s, PSL had plenty of white players with some having played for the national team. Eric Tinkler, Mark Fish, Neil Tovey, Bradley Carnell and Glen Salmons played for Bafana at some point.

Matthew Booth feels the Safa failed to lure white middle-class and upper-class youngsters into the game.