Ten things that SA sport must fix
and Temba Bavuma — are being groomed in private school environments because they have the wherewithal, the facilities and the money to grow the athlete. As ideologically suspect as it sounds, elite athletes are already on their way by the age of 15. Most young sportsmen and women never have such opportunities.
6. Bring back World Cups (and other glamour events)
Opportunity comes in many forms, one of them being the chance to be inspired by great sportspeople on our doorstep — a form of sports development for which we pay nothing.
There were eight years between the rugby and cricket World Cups that South Africa hosted (1995 and 2003), and a further seven between that Cricket World Cup and the 2010 Fifa World Cup. Since 2010 there has been nothing, other than the confirmation that Durban will host the 2022 Commonwealth Games and bickering about South African Rugby’s bid for the 2023 World Cup.
7. Abolish age-group representative sport
Although hosting global showcase events has been great for both British and New Zealand sport — think the 2012 London Olympics and the 2011 Rugby World Cup — internal changes can also be made to a nation’s sporting culture. The Kiwis, for example, play no representative age-group rugby.
Provincial age-group sport in South Africa is a double-edged sword, producing fine players while semiprofessionalising schoolboy sport, which leads to a tangible “fall-off” rate from those who don’t make it.
The negatives of the system — bizarre levels of competitiveness, contracting players at too early an age — far outweigh the positives.
8. Give us a functioning public broadcaster
No discussion of sport and sporting development can take place without the acknowledgement that more sport — and more sporting codes — should be broadcast on the SABC.
9. Bring back football in township schools
In 1996, Clive Barker’s Bafana Bafana were ranked number one in Africa and 16th in the world. Within 20 years we have spiralled downward into a limbo of underachievement. One remedy: bring back football in township high schools.
10. Heita the fans
There’s too much of a disconnect in our sport between the power brokers and the fans. Nowhere is this more apparent than in football, where fans are passionate and loyal but don’t sit on boards (as they do in Europe and Britain) and therefore can’t influence the club’s buying and decision-making.
Change would be in the best longterm interests of all, particularly when it comes to local power brokers such as Irvin Khoza, Kaizer Motaung and Jomo Sono.