Africa a great proving ground for players
Iwas envious when I saw how Swazi media bent over backwards to welcome Cape Town City last week as Benni McCarthy’s side started their Caf Confederation Cup campaign. You would have sworn a top side had landed in the Kingdom.
City easily beat Young Buffaloes 1-0 and have the advantage going into the second leg of the preliminaries next weekend. The reception showed just how seriously Swazis take these continental competitions while we do not really care.
I joked with a Swazi colleague that they were so excited because to them it was like Tottenham Hotspur were in town but I was left disappointed with the number of people who didn’t know that the tournament had started let alone the teams who will be representing us this year.
It has been proved that participating in continental club competitions can be good for our football as it be the making of players. Look at the likes of Percy Tau, Sibusiso Vilakazi … well, all of Mamelodi Sundowns’ players.
The maturity with which they now play is a result of their participation in the Caf Champions League over the past few years. I understand that continental football can also have negative effects in terms of the number of games which lead to fatigue and other issues as Eric Tinkler has articulated over the past few weeks.
But as Pitso Mosimane said this week, continental football demands
Sibongiseni Gumbi
total professionalism from everyone because the campaign needs to be properly planned for. I believe the travelling and seeing how difficult others around the continent have it opens the players’ eyes and makes them take their careers more seriously and want to do all they can to ensure they prolong their playing days.
And it also benefits Bafana Bafana as well. Look at the number of players in the team who have been with Sundowns or currently at the Tshwane giants.
I know it is difficult for us to give a huge welcome for clubs from the continent because there is not much access to them for us. The argument could be that Swazi and other neighbouring countries have the advantage of watching almost every Absa Premiership game so they know all there is to about our teams.
And all that is good and well. It shows our league is well-developed and indeed the best on the continent. But the challenge for us is to dominate continental football. The funny part is that we expect Bafana to dominate and be able to be at the same level as the best on the continent but we forget you cannot have a fancy roof without walls.
Let’s start at club level and dominate there. We are lucky we now have four teams participating each year. If we can ensure that these teams give their best and that can only come if we all support them in their campaigns.
As Mosimane has said, continental participation can only be good for our football – not just on the field but also in terms of administration and other important areas. Another coach I know who has the same determination as Mosimane to conquer the continent is Chippa’s Teboho Moloi who believes playing there will improve his players so much that when they come back to the local scene they will be unstoppable. Let’s support them.