EDITOR’S NOTE
IT’S been 23 years this month since our national men’s football team, Bafana Bafana, reached the dizzying heights of being a top 20-ranked nation in the world. Placed 19th at the end of the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations, which we won on home soil, it has been a downward spiral since those heady days for our football-mad country, which was engulfed with hope of a bright future a mere four years after South Africa played its first international match.
Pundits, scholars, former players and, more importantly, legions of fans have racked their brains trying to explain how such a bright start to the country’s international sojourn could be snuffed out faster than a candle in the wind. The answer, in my humble opinion, lies with the greedy club owners, who have tarnished a sport followed by millions of people.
An example? Last month, renowned coach Steve Komphela quit his job at Bloemfontein Celtic. His resignation letter was leaked to the public and laid bare the atrocious conditions he had to endure during the six months he spent at the club.
“Our training grounds are in the worst condition ever for a professional club. They are untidy and need maintenance (fields, toilets, offices, walls cracking, floors untidy, the yard, parking areas and premises extremely untidy). We had a terrible pre-season, if any at all. We didn’t have training kit and equipment till lately. Players had been on strike three times for a total of 13 days this year because of non-payment,” the letter read.
Instead of the letter being an opportunity for introspection, Lunga Sokhela, acting chairperson of AmaZulu FC, went on a tirade on Twitter about the sacrifices club bosses make for football in this country. He had the temerity to imply that football supporters, the lifeblood of the sport, should be grateful for the efforts of club bosses. “Hundreds of millions are lost because we (club bosses) feel (an) obligation to the public,” he wrote.
He forgot to mention that corporates pour money into football because of the many people who support the sport – the followers many companies want to appeal to.
Basic marketing books will tell you that companies wouldn’t pump so much money into a concern without the possibility of receiving handsome returns on their investments.
Sokhela is not alone in his arrogance. This week, Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi, chairperson and owner of Chippa United, fired his third coach in the current season when he ditched Joel Masutha, who had been at the helm for only a month.
Chippa United are languishing at number 15 in a 16-team league. How is anyone expected to build consistency and a vision for the club after a month at the helm? This is a trend which is pervasive throughout the PSL, where five different coaches have been fired from their positions… so far.
The owners have a right to run their teams in the best way they see fit. However, the instability and arrogance evident in our elite league are surely hindering the country’s chances of reaching the dizzying heights it reached in the mid-to-late 1990s.
Right now, Bafana are ranked a paltry 73rd in the world out of 211 countries and 15th on the continent, having failed to qualify for a second successive Fifa World Cup. And judging by the state of our league, things aren’t about to improve soon.