When a side as dominant as Mamelodi Sundowns ploughs through a club record 12 wins in a row on the way to their sixth successive DStv Premiership title, it can be tempting to declare there is no future for SA football outside Chloorkop, but three things happened this week that show it may not yet be time to administer the last rites.
The state of football in the country has been a source of debate for several years. It was thrust back into the spotlight this week when former Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates star Jabu Mahlangu suggested Sundowns were ruining SA football.
He argued the Premiership champions used their wealth to hog talent and were destroying Bafana Bafana and SA football in the process.
But to declare the death of SA football and the national team at the hands of Sundowns would be to ignore the underdevelopment of other teams in the league and lack of general funding in the local game. It also ignores the apparent lack of investment in evolving local clubs in line with global trends.
Sundowns cannot be solely blamed for the demise of SA football without looking at the role of owners, clubs, sponsors, the league and even the SA Football Association itself.
Importantly, it also undermines how well some of the SA talent outside Sundowns is doing.
That point was proved through just three instances in the hours that followed Mahlangu’s comments. He most likely saw them while posting his views on social media.
First, former Sundowns and now Al-Ahli coach Pitso Mosimane took Saudi side Al-Ahli to the top of the Saudi Arabian first division just four months after his arrival.
The SA-born coach has won the Africa’s biggest club competition, the Caf Champions League, three times and has been seen by many as the best African coach in the world.
Mosimane shocked many when he decided to join the team in the second-tier Yelo League with a goal to bring back their former glory. He has not been scared to get dirty and play the long game for success.
A few hours later, a player who progressed his career in parts unfamiliar to him ended up at one of the most famous clubs in England's Lancashire region, Burnley.
The English Championship log leaders confirmed the signing of former Orlando Pirates star Lyle Foster from KVC Westerlo in Belgium on Wednesday night for an undisclosed fee reported to be about €7m (R131m) with the potential to rise to €10m (R187m).
Barely had the announcement hit the news when Benni McCarthy’s Manchester United side beat Nottingham Forest 3-0 to all but book their place in the EFL Cup final. If United win the final it will be their first silverware in six years.
Much of the praise for United’s run in this and other competitions has been given to South African McCarthy, who joined the club a few months ago as forwards’ coach.
These three incidents show Sundowns are not killing SA football, a lack of ambition is.
The game has been hit by a pandemic of administrators and players who are all too content with maintaining the status quo. Who choose the luxury of a payday at home, instead of trying to improve themselves, their association, leagues or teams.
While SA talent will come and go like they have before, collecting their salaries as they pass through, the ones who write their names in the history books are those who seek out new frontiers.
The success of SA footballers and coaches show we still have the quality for those who are brave.
Now they just need us as a nation to join their celebrations and not start planning their funeral.
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