After another dull Soweto Derby this past weekend we were hard at it, criticising not only that match, but the poor quality of South African football in general. It was as if we had been made aware of this for only the first time, yet this was our reaction the Tuesday following the African Cup of Nations final, when fans filled the Loftus Versfeld stadium for a disappointing goalless draw between Mamelodi Sundown and Kaizer Chiefs…after we had waited two months for this game; nothing new here!
In the same week that Thulani Serero extended his stay at Ajax Amsterdam, we’re bemoaning the lack of goals and this “quality” we keep talking about. We make mention of Serero, a product of the Ajax Cape Town academy, as he clearly did enough in Holland to garner that extension even with an injury-hit season and with some indifferent performances for the national team. Another academy offspring, Steven Pienaar, has become an integral part of things at his club Everton. Dean Furman, too, went the academy route.
These are three examples, and may not be fully representative of the picture, but there’s something to be said when we celebrate a Proteas test side teeming with the results of a well-run school cricket system. With the Easter holidays coming up, there will be rugby festivals aplenty with school boys lining up as they set their sights on careers as professional sportsmen. Where is the corresponding football legacy in all this? Why is enough not being done to steer the country’s biggest sport in this direction? We acknowledge that this is not a problem endemic only to football, but footie is the biggest sport in the country.
In the same weekend that our Super Rugby teams did well, even on the road, what should have been the biggest local football match was little more than a damp squib. But are we not short-changing our players when we expect the world of them but have given them only a town to work with?
What is Sporting Chance doing? Well, for a start, we don’t have all or even half the answers. This week we marked the beginning of KIA Street Soccer with our life skills road shows in the communities involved. It won’t be a miracle solution, but in working with various stakeholders in local football, we hope to make some inroads. We look forward to somehow making it work for the country!
Thanks to our sponsors and partners Kia Motors, Supersport Let’s Play, Dawn Wing, Mille, Good Hope FM, ProNutro, SAFA; our PSL partners Ajax Cape Town, Amazulu and Bloemfontein Celtic; and the City of Joburg and the provincial Departments of Health for the continued support.
