African Coaches Just Crap?

If you are an African administrator of football, I am very sorry, I am not any pulling punches here. We are sick and tired of the nonsense you are always upto, putting up with you makes all Africans sick to the stomach. Shape up or we through you out. We need to get these messages across without fear or favour.

History has always shown us the way forward, only for the blind african administrators of football to go against the grain, but what is their gain? They compete to be foul and corrupt. They crave to break that "foolishocsope meter". It is not bad to, only that footbal is a public property. They say that football "is for all-body, it is not for one-body".

South African Africa Cup of Nations victory of 1996, epitomized the greatest achievement of this proud and vibrant nation that is always alive with possibilities. That great team of Mark Williams, Doctor Khumalo, Neil Tovey, Linda Buthelezi and Sizwe Motaung among others, was coached by a certain Clive Barker. He was local and did not earn much. There has been lessor but significant successes with various national teams and clubs, all coached by locals.

 

Zimbabwe enjoyed a fruitless but exciting time under an expat coach from Germany, named Reinhard Fabisch. He influenced the coaching structures and coaching education that is currently world-class. Nonetheless, he faltered when it mattered most and the nation had to realise success with the All-Africa Games campaign of the Under-23 team that lost the finals to Egypt, under the tutelage of locals - Wieslow Grawboski and Barry Daka. That was in 1995 and that team had in their ranks, Gift Muzadzi, Methembe Ndlovu, Stuart Murisa, Alois Bunjira, Elasto Lungu and Engelbert Dhina.

 

As for South Africa, like the rest of Africa, the best records available are held by locals coaches who were paid much less salaries than expats. And if you think that will stop the administration from going foreign, you are may be crazy, really. I think the administrators need to be expats for local coaches to be hired. Previous records and qualifications don't seem to matter when football bosses hire coaches. These bosses will not even send them for training. If they do, these coaches come back to herd cattle.

 

Of course, they would be a maiden appearance in the Africa big boys club by Warriors of Zimbabwe. After, as is usual in Africa, splashing all the money to expats, the broke national association, like locals clubs as well, hired a local coach, Sunday Mhofu Marimo Chidzambwa. He took Zimbabwe where no one else did, the Africa Nations Cup in Tunisia in 2004. Charles Mhlauri did the same the following tournament in Egypt, 2006. Sunday had also made Zimbabwean history by coaching Dynamos to Africa Champions' League finals. 

 

Cameroon won an Olympic Gold medal with a local guy called Jean Paul Akono, in Sydney, Australia in 2000. A lot other African coaches have taken junior and woman African teams to victories, but none will convince administrators that any African man given the mandate to coach at the highest level, they can come up with "winning formulae". Their brains just freeze until they are out of office.

 

Ghana Under-20 team won a FIFA World Cup and Nigeria Under-20 Women, being in the final, are on the verge of a historic victory. Their coaches are locals. This is a tip of the iceberg of the potential of local coaches. Ghana for their senior Black Stars, won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1962 and 1982 with a local coach named C. K. Gymfi. In 1978, they were victorious with Fred Osman-Doudu. They have had a lot of successful expats too, whom they paid handsomely of course. I can tell you that they have had local coaches who performed dismally as well.

 

It is football common knowledge, how Egypt has done it will local coaches. The Pharoahs lifted the Africa Cup of Nations 6 times and thrice in a row with one coach, Hessam Shehata. If this is not an example to follow, maybe Cote de' Voire and South Africa should be. I do not want to say how much they each spent on coaches, and what the coaches achieved. The schooled must give me an English term to describe those kinds of deals.

 

Give any African country or club loads of cash today, and they will fire the local coach and hire a foreigner from Europe. It is too cheap to call our selves self-colonised. We are worse, and Europe knows that. So many European countries have offered to Africa and those governments or associations pay for them. Our joy at being punch bags beats me. As soon as these "free loan" coaches are well equiped with experience, they go back and plot our football downfall because they know how we play inside out. Are we hoping to catch in world football by juju? It doesn't and I can coach a team that will beat 11 sangoma with their subs and technical department at any day. Football is the same everywhere and that education out there is also in African coaches' heads. Of course we need European and external support in many aspects. We don't have to sell our souls for that.

 

What is the point here? African football leaders are corrupt. They hire only local coaches when they are broke and the pay them peanuts while they squander public funds. As we speak a very corrupt woman is being investigated for football issues in Harare. While it does not involve coaches, that is the people Africa has for administrators. If you are an African fan like me, let's buy a big and durable bucket for your tears. These guys are here to stay.