Dr Danny Jordaan addresses The SAFCA symposium

The Safa President, Dr Danny Jordaan, gate-crashed the SAFCA session and went for the jugular. What makes the man irresistible is his knowledge and use of data and statistics. Straight away, he reminded the coaches how the first competitive games of the new seasons were decided on penalties after 0-0 draws.

The Under-21 championship in Mafikeng, the Orlando Pirates-Kaizer Chiefs Carling Black Label match, the ABC Motsepe play-offs, in Durban, some of the MTN quarter-finals and many others including the Under 17 and 20 trips to North and West Africa proved the lads fired blanks.

Putting it into perspective, he mentioned Xavi’s pass rate of 98 % compared to South Africa’s best at 40 %, mentioning that opponents needed not to fight for the ball as it always came back to them without a fight. Likewise, he pointed out that Wayne Rooney scored 4 goals with every 6 attempts while local coaches informed him their best strikers only scored on their 18^th attempt in South Africa.

The frank talking boss pointed out that Germany concluded their 2004 European championship in the first round and then lifted the Fifa World Cup in 2014. That planning proved that the development element of coaches and players to bounce back from disaster had no substitute. 

This point was made in reference to the mandate of the new Bafana Bafana coach, Ephraim Shakes Mashaba, whose job priority is qualification to the 2018 Russia Fifa World Cup and the qualification to compete to win the 2022 Qatar Fifa World Cup.

The country aimed at a regular top 3 position in Africa and top 10 (to 20) in the world Fifa ranking. Coaches were discouraged from shortcuts but encouraged to work for the good of the game of South Africa.

Given the 51 million South Africans, 3 million registered football players fell short of the expected 10 % of the population. Coaches needed to put more effort to produce more players of very high quality. He bemoaned apartheid traits in schools that still saw football as a black man sport while promoting rugby and cricket, pointing out that Herschele Gibbs went into high school as a national Under 17 footballer and came out a cricketer, as did Molefe Oliphant’s son who became a rugby player.

Jordaan outlined the many achievement concluded in the short term so far and his plans in the long term, including building nine provincial academies and artificial turfs, starting in KwaZulu Natal within weeks. A national women league will commence in the coming seasons, among the prominent plans. His National Executive Committee will be reduced from 36 to 18 soon.

He mention the deals with Siyaya and SABC will net Safa R200 million, almost in line with cricket (R250 million) and rugby (R350 million), up from R50 million. He reminded all that the game used to benefit R100 000.00 only while R40 million was enjoyed by other sports with less viewership.

He mummed an idea that some countries funded private academies following a national agenda and philosophy. ‘Don’t talk about us, talk to us’, he concluded.

Witbank killing football to death

Well-intentioned as corruption and bribery can be, the stupid initiators and ignorant participants share a criminal mind to defeat the ends of justice to promote short term selfish systems that cannot perpetuate naturally. In the game of football, the majority of stakeholders are in it for money. That is good.

The reason why that becomes elusive, is the clandestine and unscrupulous evasion the norms. Team bosses and club administrators connive to undo those who live by the book. They pay their way up. The good part here is that there is money for nothing in respect to the bribed and the briber does not lose much as they are usually wealthy. The bad side is the impact on the community and the players.

After exchanging hands, like all money, that cash runs a few homes running, paying school fees, buying food and affords club and league administrators some vices of this world. The under-par clubs rise to the next league at the expense of the best.

The best players in the league curse the day they were born, and rue the very talent they have. National team performances deteriorate and the national association engage witch doctors while they breed and harbour the problems.

The undeserving teams face relegation as they got promoted through the back door. The bribery and corruption acts recycle themselves at the expense of the community who rely on good football for entertainment and as a measure of self-worth. People talk about football with great pride, and their communities embrace teams and players as their own.

People value and treasure good memories the game brings. Those involved in scandalous activities carry the guilt of their masterminding acts on their shoulders with pride instead of shame.

Promotion and elevation outside merit damages more than the players, community and the game itself. There may be tertiary beneficiaries at a large scale in terms of the business and psychological matters.

However, selfish club owners need to realise that the cash paid in bribes can be used to acquire the best material for their needs. The biggest mistake made in such cases, is trying to get up quicker. The perceived benefits include the sale of players, prominent publicity at a higher league and improved direct financial rewards.

In a vacuum, that would be true. In reality, eliminating competition to be best is worst. True value and worth can be achieved by outclassing the best. More satisfaction comes from playing fair and engaging the top masters of the game and prevailing under all conditions.

Mohammed Ali would never be the greatest boxer by punching air. Unfortunately, the football chancers bribe their way up, eliminate opposition by hook and crook on their way up the ladder. The best way to rise above the rest and stay with the best, would be to equip the teams to build solid and true structures and then engage all the adversaries and prevail.

That built system sustains over the years and keeps the industry revolving perpetually for the top clubs to harvest the talent from the bottom. If the rich clubs destroy the development, the well to tap into will dry. The quality suffers and consequently the very bribing club.

The club owners lose, the community loses and the game loses. As we write, the Witbank community that once had Black Aces, People’s Bank Spurs among others, only prides itself with Witbank Spurs in the National First Division and probably a single ABC Motsepe Second Division, if the ongoing transactions are successful.

Now, the travelling costs will lead to that team closing shop too. The rest of the teams playing in the SAB League may not find joy in winning the play-offs to join an expensive Second Division. While the teams stepped on each other’s toes to go up, they will suffocate under the system they created.

At first sight, it seems good to pull teams down, but playing and competing alone is the worst thing ever, unless you are one of the local clever clubs that serve their own interest at the expense of the whole community.                                                                                                                                           

Why Mpumalanga Black Aces does not belong to Mpumalanga. This is a game of numbers

Mpumalanga Black Aces break my heart as they belong to Gauteng. They have a Witbank name, a Johannesburg base and a Nelspruit home ground. How come? MBA spent a few First Division One seasons in Emalahleni, sometimes sharing the training facilities with archrivals, Witbank Spurs. That did not end on that clash of interests.

After the promotion to the bigger league, the kraal became too small for the two bulls. Besides, Amaziyoni wanted class and the training grounds and facilities were not first class. The Puma Stadium did not meet their professional standards. The MBA owners’ response to that need was to renovate and expand.

The custodians of the stadium were in no mood to permit that, as many stakeholders were involved, including the rugby community. Speculation has it that the local Municipality’s response to the request for land to develop a new facility did not go well. It is not clear if the land was available to start with.

Let us do the numbers now. Mpumalanga as a province has about 3 000 000 people, with Witbank accounting for about 322 000. Compare that to 2 000 000 Namibians and bear in mind that the capital city, Windhoek, whose population is around 295 000.

Witbank, and indeed Mpumalanga has no ABSA Premier Soccer League team, while Windhoek has 9 Namibia Premier League teams, 7 Division One team, 12 Second Division teams. Emalahleni and the whole of Mpumalanga has only Witbank Spurs in Division One. There are only 3 ABC Motsepe Second Division teams in the city and 38 SAB Third Division teams in the region. These numbers do not add up.

Maybe it is not about number, as these are exciting football times. As much as figures do not lie, they lie. If numbers are anything to go by, China and India would win all Fifa World Cups. Brazil would have won the latest version because they have around 20 million registered professionals playing in their 21 states and overseas.

How much you believe in that, I leave it up to you, but the issue close to my heart worries me about the communities’ ability to build homegrown town heroes. The small cities lost many cult heroes to bigger towns for obvious reasons. The playing ground being a little level, the population is content to sit out and live the past. This also brings the subject of yesterday; the foreign coaches in our national team.

While mentioning over 20 000 A Licence coaches from Spain, Germany and France, Danny Jordaan should be delivering a local coach, given his numbers that South Africa has 67 of them. Supposedly, the 32 coaches are involved with local PSL and NFD teams, one each for Amagluglug, Amajita, Amajimbos, Banyana Banyana, Basetsana and so forth. It means there is still over 27 over qualified coaches in either lower leagues or unemployed.

Anyway, the stadium is rarely occupied when Spurs plays their home games. We are sometimes unaware that they play at home. The marketing can be better but that is subject for another day. The point is that unless Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates are in town, there is never soccer fever because there are no home town heroes like Frank Makua or Dumisa Ngobe anymore.

When push came to shove, Port Elizabeth imported pride at a good cost. I believe Emalahleni could have taken a leaf from the act of bravery shown by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. They courted Chippa United, attracting them to move from Cape Town.

That savvy business move to PE is rumoured to be subject to R35 million exchanging hands. The Municipality knew the benefits that came with multi-million rand deal. Of course, Chippa United scored a good buck too.

Just as scrupulous, the Maritzburg Municipality realised the business potential of having a PSL team at their doorstep. Actually, rumour has it that Maritzburg United were the first choice team for the NMBM but their local City Fathers got wind of the news and hijacked the project. They counter offered their rivals and landed the deal. At the end of the day, both Municipalities got their fish and both Chippa and Maritzburg United smiled all the way to the bank.

You may be wondering where this is going. Emalahleni Municipality could have paid less for what the two other municipalities did for the same product. Mpumalanga Black Aces may be now looking for the same deal with them or any other suitor. The City Fathers could have upgraded the facilities to the required standards, or built new ones for the benefit of this team and the new ones coming up.

The City will have many more teams in both the Premier League and First Division and soon. The facilities are needed as a matter of urgency.