By Joseph Solomon,

AIFF Media Team

GOA: One could hear the chorus of South African voices in the tunnel as the South African U-16 National Team made its way into the Stadium on the eve of October 07, 2016 ahead of their encounter against India. As the twenty-one players got closer to the field, the tempo of the chorus increased as did its magnitude.

Vibrantly dressed in yellow, the South African players ‘shook a little leg’, danced, sang vehemently before entering the pitch at the Athletic Stadium in Bambolim, Goa, ahead of their clash against India, which the African Team eventually won 1-0.

It was uncommon, strange, but exciting and breathtakingly intriguing to watch a Team ritual. It is not odd to see Players, Team and even Coaches adopt some sort of rituals, some sort of belief in the supernatural on match-days, to sway the favour of the clash towards their Team. For South Africa however, the vehemently singing and dancing is all but a means to cajole themselves in order to motivate and inspire them before the ‘Amajimbos’ take to the field.

“That is one of the ‘African’ rituals we follow before every game“, said South African Coach Molefi Ntseki in an exclusive chat with www.the-aiff.com.

“That is how we motivate each other and the songs are about teamwork, helping each other out on the pitch and they inspire us to give our cent percent in the match”

“It is more of a tradition in Africa and it depends from country to country wether they sing or dance before the match. For us, it is about developing a sense of team-work and lifting our spirits high”, he added.

“It is not only the Junior National Team which follows this tradition, even the Senior National Team follows it”

Even the warm-up training session of the African Team ahead on any game is designed in a way to keep the razzmatazz going – clapping hands loudly while doing jumping-jacks is a common sight.

“The rhythmic exercises are engineered to help keep up the tempo of the Players and since Football is a sport which requires coordination of muscles we intend to promote that in our warm-ups through innovative exercises”