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It is not always that one finds oneself compelled to give kudos to Safa and its special member, the Premier Soccer League (PSL). You see, the suits and skirts in charge of South Africa’s amateur and professional football are given to bungling.
The two organisations are so familiar with messing up that some have even gone as far as saying that Safa and the PSL couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery.
But looking at Wednesday’s upcoming Telkom Knockout Cup final, I felt that the two entities deserved a pat on the back.
The final between Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns pits two sons of the soil against each other in coaches Steve Komphela and Pitso Mosimane.
The two – and many others – are graduates from Safa-run coaching courses that have been going on for quite some time.
Safa, as the country’s football governing body, is tasked with the development of the game in Mzansi. This entails the grooming of players, administrators, coaches and referees.
You might accuse me of doing something akin to praising a fish for swimming. But the fact is Safa has been getting it wrong since being accepted into the global football family in July 1992.
But their latest approach seems to be churning out good coaches.
However, you may well ask, do I also wish to shower the PSL with accolades?
You see, no matter how many plausible mentors Safa takes through its courses, we won’t know of them unless PSL clubs employ them.
As we speak, for the first time in the history of South African football, the three biggest sides in the country, Orlando Pirates, Chiefs and Sundowns, are coached by local coaches.
And just as Komphela and Mosimane square off against each other on Wednesday, come Sunday, another coach who is as South African as morogo and biltong, Eric Tinkler, will lead his Buccaneers against Bafana ba Style in a mouth-watering Absa Premiership fixture.
Gone are the days when South African football was dominated by foreign coaches. As we speak, the PSL boasts home-grown talent in the likes of Clinton Larsen, Serame Letsoaka, Roger Sikhakhane, Gordon Igesund, Gavin Hunt, Cavin Johnson, Jomo Sono and Roger De Sá.
To gauge how well they are doing, you don’t have to cast your sights any further than the PSL log.
Currently, Mpumalanga Black Aces coach Muhsin Ertugral is the only foreign instructor with a side in the top 10 – they are third on the log.
The confidence Safa has in locals is evidenced by the fact that all national teams, save Banyana Banyana (the women’s senior national team) and their Under-20 counterparts, are being led by homeboys.
Bafana Bafana, the SA Under-23s, the Under-20s and the Under-17s are all mentoredby locals in Shakes Mashaba, Owen Da Gama, Thabo Senong and Molefi Ntseki, respectively.
With such confidence shown in our home brew, the ball is now in their court to prove or keep proving themselves.
They could do with refresher courses in different parts of the world during the off-season to sharpen their skills. Failure to do this might see them left behind, as the modern game is improving at an alarming speed. What was fashionable yesterday is archaic today. This is the next challenge facing South African coaches.
As for Safa and the PSL, keep up the good work.
Follow me on Twitter @Sbu_Mseleku
