Bafana’s low ranking bites Tau abroad

Just a few weeks ago, we were celebrating a positive story about Percy Tau, who had secured a move to the English Premiership.

Brighton & Hove Albion had finally confirmed, after long speculation, that they had signed the Bafana Bafana international from Mamelodi Sundowns, giving SA football the major fillip that it has lacked for some time in terms of big transfers.

But we warned then that Tau could struggle to secure a work permit that would enable him to ply his trade in the United Kingdom, thanks in the main to Bafana’s low ranking and the few appearances (10) he made for the national side in the past year.

Not surprisingly, Tau has now been shipped off on loan to Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, a littleknown Belgium second division side where, it is hoped, he may impress and get to fulfill his dreams of playing in the highly rated English Premiership.

Naturally, the announcement by Brighton that Tau would be loaned out has sparked debate as to whether he should have left SA in the first place.

Some have questioned the Brighton’s motive of paying a reported record R50-million for a player they would send off on loan a few weeks later.

Others are bickering over the standard of the Belgian second division, to which Tau has been sent. All these concerns are valid.

Tau is the reigning PSL footballer of the year and was, by far, the best Bafana player in the previous year. He helped Sundowns to the league title and was joint top scorer in the league.

For him to play for a little-known team who are second from bottom in their division, seems grossly unfair.

But we have to accept that SA football has regressed so much that even our best players have to start from the bottom. Had Bafana been ranked in the top 50 by Fifa, Tau would not have had these problems. He would have had a case for a UK work permit.

He’s now a victim of our national team’s years of decline. The last thing he needs, is discouragement. He needs to be told to bide his time, knuckle down and work hard in that lowly league, and that his time will come. We have no doubt regarding his talent. He will surely emerge from the obscurity of the Belgium second division to stardom.