Boot out booze abuse — Pitso
Mosimane advocates a multipronged approach to attack the alcohol problem
By BARENG-BATHO KORTJAAS
● Alcohol abuse remains a persistent problem among Premier Soccer League (PSL) players, an issue Pitso Mosimane says needs all hands on deck to address.
It is common to see videos showing drunk stars going viral, and reports of professional players reporting for training drunk — some smelling like they’ve just stepped out of a shebeen — are a regular occurrence.
Itumeleng Khune is the latest prominent superstar to hog the headlines arriving at training inebriated. The veteran Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper was suspended and stripped of the club captaincy after a disciplinary hearing.
Distinguished coach Mosimane knows both sides of the divide, having played for Jomo Cosmos, Orlando Pirates, Ianikos of Greece and coached Mamelodi Sundowns, Al Ahly, Al-Ahli and Al Wahda.
He advocates a multipronged approach to attack the alcohol problem. “It’s like speeding. You can’t blame Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini for making super cars and say these supercars get involved in crashes. No. I drive the super car. There is a driver. Alcohol is something that people drink while they are hanging around, talking, celebrating. That’s why we take champagne to celebrate. In church we have bread and wine, but we don’t come back inebriated,” he said.
“It’s abuse. We need to deal with the person involved. Alcohol is not the problem. Messi, Ronaldo... they drink. They have a glass of wine. They even celebrate with beer inside the dressing room. And the Bokke. Number one in the world, they beat people left and right, they drink. The problem is when we have to carry you.”
Mosimane said players needed to be wiser about their associates and “player managers that make money out of these people”.
“Clubs need to try and have structures within the teams that deal with this. That’s where management fails...”
At Sundowns, Mosimane introduced breathalyser testing and entrusted the medical team to lead the process. “Because we train early in the morning, everybody will go through the breathalyser. I had to do it underground and hide it because I didn’t know how it was going to be perceived by the public... South Africa has too many laws and regulations… We live in a different world.”
Another weapon Mosimane advocates is having “generals” in the dressing room to keep it quiet. “They are masters of the dressing room... At SuperSport United I had Kaitano [Tembo], David Notoane, Ricardo Katza. That was my dressing room, those were the generals, the coaches who coach the team inside the dressing room and inside the pitch.”
He followed a similar approach at Sundowns.
The local game is littered with depressing examples of talented players who never fulfilled their true potential or fell by the wayside because of alcohol abuse.
The generals like Hlompho Kekana, Tiyani Mabunda and Wayne Arendse reined in the delinquents.
“This thing is killing your career, impacting you not to be in the starting line-up. We don’t hide that. The minute you fail the test, the generals of the dressing room must know that we have a problem now. They will say ‘coach leave it to us, we’ll come back to you’.
“People think to make a team you [must] have top, skilful, beautiful players. Huh. Wayne Arendse. When you look at those guys you think ay ngathi akekho mnandi lo (this one is not so skilful). But those are the guys that win championships. Those are the generals who have turned this thing around. We can talk about so and so is top in football, he can do this and that.
Clubs need to try and have structures within the teams that deal with this. That’s where management fails Pitso Mosimane
Renowned coach
“Those are true generals. They know their job. They tell these players that you can see I am 30 now, I want to go on playing for as long as I can. I can’t do that without you. I need you because you dribble and score for us. But your drinking is affecting me...[you have] to help me to renew my contract.”
Mosimane believes it is the responsibility of teams to keep their legends going for as long as possible to help build role models. “But it is not the responsibility of a team to give a legend life after football. No. It’s your life. You must keep it going after football...
“When Kaitano and Notoane reached 31 I used to tell them to go to Safa to get coaching badges, to be prepared. I used to sit with Kaitano. It is up to us to build them for the future. But you can’t force a horse to go drink water when it doesn’t want to. It must want to.”