Wanted: a new generation of heroes
SOME of the stars who brought glory to the nation 20 years ago fear that Bafana Bafana’s finest moment runs the risk of going the same way as England did after winning the 1966 World Cup — never winning a major trophy again. It looks like it [will be our 1966]. But what I can say is that the 1996 team was built. It started in 1992 and had the continuity. Of the players who were there in 1992, 80% stayed together until 1996. That means character, discipline. Clive Barker had a vision.
He polished the diamond he found and made it blossom. And the result was the Nations Cup. But it took continuity over four years to get that. If you want to win, you can’t have chopping and changing.
Eric Tinkler
It’s a building process and needs to be done patiently. It’s important seeing a bit of success in the under-23 team that Owen da Gama led to the Olympics.
We need to try to keep that squad together as long as possible — and then see those players making the step up to Bafana. Capitalise on this generation.
Lucas Radebe
I think we should have taken another step from 1996. With the resources we have, that should have been our benchmark to go on and win trophies. When I look at what we have in the team at the moment, I don’t want it to take us too long to get back. It needs to start now.
There is talent coming through when you look at the U-23s and some players. But it needs to be properly nurtured.
Phil Masinga
I used to feel good when people spoke about the class of ’96, but now I don’t feel good anymore. I’m not happy about that. The only time we came close to achieving what we achieved in ’96 was when we reached the final in 1998.
The funny thing is that our league has become more professional, but we still have problems producing quality strikers. During my day, we had 10 strikers who could do the job for Bafana.
I think what we need to do is send more players to Europe to compete with the best because that way we will have players competing at the highest level.
Linda Buthelezi
For me, it wakes up my mind when people talk about the 1996 team because it is a reminder that we did something.
As for what happens now to have the same success, I say you can’t change a winning team, and by that I mean the people [players and coaches] who were involved in ’96 should have been involved in football administratively.
So they were supposed to be roped into football administration and coaching. After all, those are football people and I don’t think many of them are involved.
Mark Williams
When you talk about the ’ 96 team, even if you don’t want to talk about it, you have to acknowledge it.
Nothing has happened since 1996, so you have to talk about something that happened. England talk about 1966.
In our case, the only way to fix it is if the Bafana Bafana team win the Africa Cup of Nations. But for now, we must talk about our heroes: Williams, [Shaun] Bartlett, Masinga.
We should acknowledge our heroes. That day [February 3 1996] I made history by scoring two goals in the final. The rugby team won it in 1995, and last year they had a gala dinner. What happened with soccer?
Helman Mkhalele
There needs to come a time when we stop talking about 1996. We need to stop parading that team and acknowledge that things have changed.
So we need a systematic plan, a longterm plan like the one Safa have: the vision 2022 and beyond. We need to make sure we are producing players for our national team. But to produce players, you also need to be producing coaches who can coach at relevant age groups. We also need to compete at major competitions regularly.