Pirates and Shield join force for talent search

Orlando Pirates will offer their expert coaches who will help train and develop raw football talent across the country and give one hard-working player the chance to realise his dream by signing a one-year professional contract with the Orlando Pirates Development team.

The partnership with Orlando Pirates comes as a new layer for Shield, bringing football development back home to South Africa and deepens Shield’s commitment to football development in the country.

The Buccaneers have historically played a huge role in local football development and continue to do so through their training programmes and their youth development team. Joining Shield, they will bring their expert training programme and coaches to the field in national campaign try outs, whilst scouting for the one champion player to be part of their development team.
In 2018 Shield is widening the goal posts on its commitment to unearth even more great homegrown talent and provide grass roots football development across the country.

The three champion brands: Shield, Chelsea and Orlando Pirate have come together in the second year of the campaign to inspire South Africans to move with purpose and continue developing championship winning talent.

“Partnering with Orlando Pirates is a natural progression for year two of the campaign thanks to the Club’s passion around football development in South Africa,” said Gareth Marshal, Senior Brand Manager – Shield South Africa.

“This partnership will inspire young South Africans who understand that achieving success requires hard work, practice, and dedication to reach for their dreams and achieve that one-year development contract with the Buccaneers,” he said.

“Orlando Pirates has always been dedicated to unearthing the best talent in South Africa, through our own extensive recruitment network and the programmes and initiatives that we run internally through the Club’s youth systems,” said Tokoloho Moeketsi, Brand Activation Manager at Orlando Pirates.

“We’re excited to extend our development program and give more opportunities to aspiring players nationwide, while inspiring talent through hard work and determination and giving them skills – both on and off the field.”

The nationwide competition is open to all South Africans and initial regional trials will take place in five regions; Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Port Elizabeth and Durban.

Players will be selected from the regional trials to attend the finals week, where three players will be chosen to travel to London and train with Chelsea F.C., with an all-expenses paid for trip.

Once these three players return from London, one of three football star talents will be given a one-year development contract with Orlando Pirates – going under their guidance to continue a career in football.

To enter, consumers can purchase any Shield product and redeem by calling *120*744353# for a chance to win. For more information on dates and times and other key info to join the try outs, please visit www.shield.co.za.

The competition runs from 20th February to 30 April 2017. Consumers should retain their till slip as proof of purchase. T&Cs available on Shield.co.za.

To be part of this exciting journey, join and follow the conversation using the hashtag #MoveWithShield and visit our social pages:

By Christopher Maqashu