The Stellenbosch Football Club has warned the public to beware of con men charging people fees for player trials.
The PSL club, which lifted the inaugural Carling Knockout Cup in December, issued a statement on Facebook, saying: “We have become aware of fraudulent social media pages purporting to represent the club and its officials by advertising trials in exchange for payment.
“Stellenbosch FC is not currently hosting open trials nor would the club ever charge prospective trialists any monetary fee.
“Only trust communications that come directly from the club’s official pages and website. Please be vigilant and report any suspicious online behaviour.”
Liam Bekker, the club’s head of media and stakeholder relations, said that the scammers prey on the ambitions of young soccer players.
He explains: “These people are obviously scammers who know that young children all dream of becoming professional footballers or athletes and they prey on that ambition to rob families out of their money.”
One of the several fake Facebook pages under the name “Stellenbosch Football Academy” advertises trials to players between the ages of 11 and 27 years old, charging R400 to R700 per player.
The bogus trials are set to take place at the Idas Valley Stadium in April 2024.
Bekker claimed that these fake pages come and go and often change their names.
He adds: “Stellenbosch is not hosting any open trials and would never charge any fee from trials.
“Some of the scams are quite convincing in the manner they pretend to be officials. Parents should only trust communication coming from the club’s social media pages and website.”
Cape Town football administrator, Shameeh McLaurie said most laaities are desperate to achieve their goal in becoming a professional, adding: “These scammers know that we have desperate kids in and around South Africa so they will do anything to be as professional as possible.”
Shameeh further encourages parents to follow up if the information is legit.
The Daily Voice reached out to a cellphone number placed on one of the fake advertisements, but no response was received at the time of going to print.
byron.lukas@inl.co.za