Late Safa boss' son speaks out

SON of the late Solomon "Stix" Morewa challenges South African Football Association (Safa) to restore the standards his dad helped establish.

Speaking during the launch of the Clinix Stix Morewa Soccer Challenge this weekend, Bobby Morewa paid an emotional tribute to his late dad, who was Safa president between 1994 and 1997.

He also thanked the Clinix Health Group for preserving his dad's legacy through the annual township soccer event.

"The old man was very passionate about the development of football and above all about the people themselves," said Bobby.

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He ended his tribute with a heartfelt challenge to Safa to improve Bafana Bafana's current Fifa ranking of 54th in the world and 10th in Africa.

He said:

"My father left Safa when Bafana was number one in Africa and number 19 in the world."

It will mark 21 years since Morewa's passing when Safa holds its elective congress in September, who served as the association's president from 1994 until his resignation in January 1997. He died in September 2005 at the age of 61.

Affectionately known as Bra Stix, Morewa was a respected football administrator and anti-apartheid activist who played a pivotal role in the unification of South African football.

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He also oversaw the country's readmission to international football in 1992 after decades of sporting isolation.

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Widely regarded as a champion of football development, he was instrumental in initiatives such as the Chappies Little League and the establishment of the now-defunct Safa Football School of Excellence in the early 1990s.

His tenure reached its peak when Bafana won the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations on home soil, a triumph that lifted South Africa to the top of the African rankings and into the world's top 20.

Bra Stix is also remembered as one of the chief architects of South Africa's successful bid to host the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

Despite his many achievements, Bra Stix's tenure ended in controversy. He was forced to resign in 1997 following damning allegations of financial mismanagement contained in the findings of the Pickard Commission of Inquiry.

Nevertheless, Bra Stix is credited as the driving force behind several landmark football development projects, including the Safa Football School of Excellence and the Shapa Soweto complex in Pimville, formerly known as the Safa Centre.

His legacy also lives on through two institutions that bear his name — the annual Stix Morewa Soccer Challenge in Soweto and the Clinix Solomon Morewa Memorial Hospital in Selby, Joburg.

Past Safa presidents:

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