Betway Premiership is Stellenbosch FC’s bread, butter—Barker

Stellenbosch FC coach Steve Barker has highlighted the importance of South Africa’s flagship Betway Premiership, calling it his team’s bread and butter.

The coach said this while sharing his frustrations over Stellies’ winless start to the league this season. Stellenbosch are still hunting for a first league win after settling for a 1-1 draw with Magesi FC on Wednesday.

Stellies might have earned their first point of the 2025/26 Betway Premiership season after the draw, but Barker was not happy.

The two teams met at Seshego Stadium desperate for their first win which never came. It was back-to-back league draws for John Maduka’s Magesi.

On the other hand, Barker, admittedly wanted the maximum points to compensate for their 2-0 loss to Kaizer Chiefs the previous week.

Wednesday’s result might have led to speculation that Stellenbosch entered the pitch half-heartedly with one eye on Saturday’s MTN8 semifinal game against Sekhukhune United.

However, Barker insisted that the Betway Premiership remains his priority.

“The league is our bread and butter, and we want to keep challenging at the top end and qualifying for African football,” Barker told his club’s media.

“We played the game to win, and that was the main objective. We didn’t really have an eye on Saturday. First prize, especially after losing to Chiefs, was to try to get three points.”

The visitors went ahead through Langelihle Phili’s 20th-minute goal, the winger’s second in three matches across all competitions this campaign. However, Maduka’s wards responded to equalize seven minutes later through Kgomotso Mosadi’s header off a corner-kick.