How I wish I could bring some good news about SA football whenever I get a chance in this space. However, the way things are going I’m afraid that is unlikely.
Not when the coach of our national football team, Bafana Bafana, constantly highlights the lack of support from his employers and others who should be helping him build a strong team that everybody can be proud of.
Bafana coach Hugo Broos, after announcing his squad to play Sierra Leone and Botswana in friendlies, has again been telling everyone of the shabby way SA Football Association (Safa) are running things.
The situation got worse on Monday when Broos discovered that Bafana manager Vincent Tseka had “forgotten” to book a training venue for the team, resulting in a cancellation of Bafana’s first training session in preparation for Saturday’s match at FNB Stadium against the Leone Stars.
This just a few days after Broos had called on Safa to up the ante when it comes to administration, highlighting the non-employment of national team coaches for the Under-17, Under-20 and Under-23s as a recipe for disaster.
The Belgian added that the absence of these coaches makes tracing junior players who have represented the country an impossible job.
“If you were to play a game now with the under-17s nobody can give you a team because there’s no-one following up on those players. Those who were under-17 are now under-20 but nobody can tell me where those players are,” Broos said when announcing his latest Bafana squad.
A few days after that, Safa held their NEC (national executive) meeting at Safa House in Johannesburg but instead of addressing some of the issues Broos has raised, they chose to appoint three vice-presidents to serve under the incumbent Danny Jordaan. If you asked me how these appointments will help improve SA football or address some of the points Broos has raised, I would say forget it.
Interestingly, a new technical director Walter Steenbok was also announced on Saturday. Great move maybe in football terms, but is providing technical advice to the Bafana coach going to be enough to solve the problems we have in our football?
Danny Jordaan, who appointed Broos, must be cursing the day in May last year he decided to go for the Belgian’s signature. Time and again Broos has exposed the association for its flaws and lack of professionalism.
Aren’t we putting a cart before the horse here when we say we have money to appoint a technical director but no money for junior national team coaches? These are the sort of the decisions the Safa suits are good at making because in their minds SA Football begins and ends with Bafana. That’s why they have appointed a technical director to advise Broos on a permanent basis.
Another thorny issue raised by Broos last Thursday was the relationship Safa has with their special member, the Premier Soccer League (PSL). Broos revealed that he’s written to the PSL asking them to postpone the Carling Cup scheduled for November 12 – a time Broos had earmarked to prepare the team for a do-or-die 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Liberia.
“I’m afraid for the answer I will get (form the PSL),” a worried Broos told the press last week.
Safa, by virtue of being the mother body, should be fighting his battles with the league. The answer lies in that it is the tail (PSL) which is wagging the dog (Safa) when it comes to SA football.
If that wasn’t the case Broos wouldn’t be afraid of the answer from the PSL because Safa should have power to overrule the league. But that’s not going to happen because the financial power lies with the PSL and that’s why the league will do whatever it wants no matter the impact on the national team.
So, you tell me I must have good news to write about SA football. I’m afraid I have none, and at the rate we’re going I don’t see anything improving in the foreseeable future.
The only positive things is that in Broos we have a coach who’s not afraid to tell us who is hindering his work as a Bafana coach. At least we’ll know who to blame if he fails to qualify for next year’s Afcon in Ivory Coast.
Danny Jordaan, who appointed Broos, must be cursing the day in May last year he decided to go for the Belgian’s signature. Time and again Broos has exposed the association for its flaws and lack of professionalism.
Instead of responding with plans to fix things, three new vice-presidents are revealed by Safa. Couldn’t the money spent on these positions be used for the appointment of three junior national team coaches?
When it comes to those appointments, Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe tells us the organisation has no money to appoint permanent coaches for the junior teams. The question is: has anyone bothered to look for sponsors who can help pay for those coaches. The answer will be no. It will be a no because the focus is always on the flagship team, Bafana Bafana.
For me, Safa are no different to a parent who expects his/her child to get A symbols in matric but does nothing to help the child in the 11 years before matric. It’s stupidity of epic proportions.
But then again, it’s SA football that we’re talking about. Safa has stalled our football for more than two decades already, so much so that I don’t expect an improvement from them any time soon.
How I wish I could have something nice to say about our football.
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