Byrne: What is missing with SA football compared to Springboks

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Byrne: What is missing with SA football compared to Springboks

Aug 30, 2026 – 12:57 pm
By Thato Bosoga

Performance and Sport psychology coach Jordan Byrne has opened up on South African clubs still missing a cog that has made athletes at the Springboks and clubs in Europe perform consistently at the highest level.

There is no doubt that SA football is blessed with an abundance of talent but performance levels of individuals often fluctuate, leading to abandoned careers or unrealized potential.

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A case in point currently is Mamelodi Sundowns forward Monnapule Saleng, who has not been able to perform due to issues that do not seem to be football-related.

Touching on the subject of Performance and Sport Psychology, Byrne has suggested that the country’s football ecosystem is still lagging behind in introducing a holistic approach in managing athletes and believes the South African Rugby national team’s success has to do with, among other things, paying attention to the area of Sport Psychology.

“I think that starts at the top, we’re seeing in Europe, South Africa we’re way behind, we have always been on that front. If you look at the Springbok team, the work that Rassie has done with them,” Byrne said in an exclusive interview with KickOff.

“A lot of that has been centered around the individual, the human that is underneath the kit and that sort of approach. And we’re seeing in Europe, America, there’s massive focus on what we call a holistic approach to the athlete.

“The technical side of the sport, training, coaching, that sort of a thing, the technical side, nutrition and diet side and then there’s the psychological support as well and if we’re not approaching our teams with this model, there’s always going to be something that is left out,” Byrne said.

“You can have five training sessions a day, you can do as much tactical and technical work as you like with individuals but ultimately, if their mind is not at the right place, at the end of the day, if they are not focused, if they are not the best version of themselves, that training will be futile, that training is going to go to waste,” the Masters alumni of the University of the Western Cape insisted.

For professional help, Byrne can be reached on Instagram: @MindMattersPerformance (Mind Matters) and via email: [email protected].