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If you meet someone wearing a long face these days, chances are that they, at some stage in their life, committed the cardinal sin of falling in love with football.
You see, this crazy sport (to steal from Casey “Kid” Motsisi Esquire’s piece) that sees a bunch of 11 grown-up men chase after a round ball made of pigskin is highly addictive.
Sad and unbelievable stories of people losing their houses, wives and even children after putting them up for a bet abound. Why, some have even taken their lives just because of the results not going their way in this opium of the masses masquerading as sport.
These days, South African football lovers’ spirits are at their lowest ebb yet.
It started with the South African Under-20 national team – Amajita – losing all three of their first-round matches at the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in Poland. Then Banyana Banyana followed suit at their own World Cup in France.
To add insult to injury, Bafana Bafana have uninspiringly huffed and puffed their way through the Afcon tournament in Egypt like a punch-drunk boxer.
There is plenty to be upset about with South African football. There is just so much wrong, and the poor performances of our teams on the field are a reflection of how the game is being run in the country.
Safa, which is tasked with being the custodian of the game in this country, cannot be happy with the way things are – if its members are to be completely honest with themselves.
Under these circumstances, the silence of president Danny Jordaan amid all that is happening is deafening and disturbing.
He has not come out to condemn or criticise the teams’ lacklustre performances. This can only point to one thing – that he knows that his organisation has not properly prepared the turf for the players and coaches to perform at their utmost best.
Why would Jordaan keep mum when a national coach takes a South African footballer of the year to the continental tournament only to keep him on the bench?
Why keep your peace when a national team coach goes on a rampage and insults the nation that employs him, and says its 57 million citizens do not support him and their national team, and are only waiting “to chop off our heads”?
What kind of a dimwit makes such baseless statements? Which national team can South Africans support?
Should the nation not vent when its team underperforms?
Stuart Baxter seems to be oblivious to the fact that the national team belongs to the South African nation.
It is not a privately owned club where owners and, in some cases, their spoilt children, can say and do anything they like.
As mentioned above, there is just so much that is wrong with South African football.
The continuous cold war between Safa and its “special member”, the PSL, is also not doing our football any good.
God forbid Thembinkosi Lorch is caught up as a pawn and indirect victim in the crossfire between the two organisations because of the club he plays for – a club that also belongs to the league chairperson.
Our children cannot be punished for the sins of their “fathers”, real or perceived.
One is led to believe that, while the focus has been on the happenings in the land of the Pyramids, shenanigans related to the cold war have been continuing unabated.
Unconfirmed reports are that Safa has decided to overturn David Thidiela’s “cautionary” suspension by the PSL and slap him with a R3 000 fine.
On the other hand, the PSL is still pursuing the OUTsurance sponsorship matter through the courts.
One wonders why, if the relations between the mother body and its special member are as cordial as we are led to believe, they can’t solve this matter and others through their available communication channels.
I mean, the PSL chairperson plus four members of his executive sit on the Safa council. He and the Safa president are also members of the decision-making emergency committee. There is even a so-called liaison committee that is made up of an equal number of members from the two bodies.
If the elders behave badly, how can we expect the children (who are players in this case) to behave otherwise and perform to the best of their abilities?
We all know what happens to children whose parents are forever at each other’s throats.
It’s time for our football leaders to ask themselves if they are doing justice to the sport of the masses.
This column was written and printed before last night’s match between Bafana Bafana and Egypt
Follow me on Twitter @Sbu_Mseleku
