25 May 2023

Royal Fighters are the champions of the Kgatleng Region Women’s Football League 2022/23 season.

Under the tutelage of Lesang Seabelo who is the head coach and the team’s founder as well as its director, the team won eight games, drew one and lost one, thereby amassing enough points to clinch the championship trophy.

In an interview, Coach Seabelo said he had been in the development of women’s football long enough to witness its growth in the region and country at large. He said the team was established in 2011 as Mochudi Blackburn Ladies Soccer Club and started playing the league from the 2013/13 season affiliated to Gaborone Regional Football Association.

However, during the 2017/18 season the women football was restructured and the team moved to Kgatleng Regional Football Association (KRFA). Coach Seabelo said they then changed their name and status from Mochudi Blackburn Ladies Soccer Club which was a society to Royal Fighters FC trading as Royal Fighters Consortiums) in July 2020. He said they won championship of Kgatleng in a Botswana Football Association (BFA) ‘back to the grounds activation tournament’ held during COVID-19.

“In the 2021/2022 season we became champions of Kgatleng regional football association and we participated in the First edition of the DTC Top 8 championship. Our target was to get to the semifinals and by the grace of the good Lord we managed and became second runners up (third position) and got bronze medals and a whooping P100 000 money prize,” he said.

Coach Seabelo added that as they were preparing for the DTC championship playoffs and they needed donations to enable them to compete.   He pleaded with local business community, individuals, parents and all stakeholders for support to take the project to a higher level. The coach further said they planned to invite investors who would give the team a strong financial backup. He appreciated the Royal Fighters technical and administrative team for their efforts as he could not have done it alone and also thanked the parents and other stakeholders including the International Faith Ministries Church in Tlokweng.

Coach Seabelo said his love for football started at a tender age while playing street football with his elder brothers. While at Molefi Senior School in 2003 he had an opportunity to train the girls’ team goalkeeper. He said after he completed Form 5 in 2004, his coach and mentor Mr Jobe Kefaletse introduced him as his coaching assistant at the boys’ team.

Seabelo then started coaching girls’ team in 2005 and got a bronze medal from the Coca Cola BISA nationals and continued coaching Molefi until 2014.  Coach Seabelo said he studied basic preliminary coaching level in 2007, followed by management and administration level course in 2009.

“I went further and did management and administration level I in 2014 and FIFA Youth Coaching level in 2016 which was followed by Preliminary coaching level and Diploma D Licence coaching level both done in 2020,” he said.

He said in 2021 he undertook a course on Football management and administration (operation time for change). ENDS