Jeff Buttler, coach of Kaizer Chiefs, has achieved formidable success with the club. In the 77 first-class games Chiefs have played under his charge, they have lost just seven times and won five trophies. But from this week, he will have to watch his team from the grandstand. Butler had until the middle of this week to pay a R10 000 fine to the National Soccer League. He refused to do so and is now suspended.
Butler first incurred the NSL’s wrath for refusing to attend two meetings the league called for coaches involved in the John Player semi-finals. But the fine – R20 000, with half suspended – was imposed because of comments Butler made to the press about the state of NSL soccer. Butler insists that everything he said was ”current and valid” criticism. And for that reason, he says, he will not pay the fine. Butler has three main criticisms: the length of the season makes good quality soccer impossible; the importation of foreign players is stifling local talent; and South Africa soccer has no coherent development programme.
This is what he has to say: Quantity at the expense of quality ”If you do a survey around the established coaches in the league, many will say this season is the worst they can remember. At the very least that means the game is stagnating. ”The game is overplayed and over-sponsored. You don’t develop football by playing non-stop for 12 months. Mass-producing soccer will not give you quality. ”The first problem is that the league is too big. You have to have an absolute maximum of 14 teams. The strength of South African soccer does not warrant 18 teams. ”Cup games are also a problem. In most countries there are two semi-finals and then the final – three games. Here we have two legs for each semi, two for the final and sometimes a two-leg game for third and fourth. That’s eight games plus the television coverage. I’d say the sponsors are getting a bargain.
”All this means that we are not getting the best out of our players. When players are overloaded, they eventually have nothing left. ”More money, more sponsorships won’t give you quality. It’s like pouring on cream and sugar when there is no cake underneath. You can’t keep piling things on when the game underneath isn’t good enough. ”If you cut double-headers and re¬ duce the league to 14 teams then you can allocate time for assessment. Coaches can look at what’s been going on. It’s a time to think; then you move on to the next stage. ”Right now there’s no time to think because its play play play. It is impossible to think about developing the game. You will not get development through sheer volume. You will end up choking the game to death.
Foreign players stifle local talent ”Something is wrong when a country with 30 million people has to get players from a country with half a million? ”It is generally accepted that there are too many foreign players here. They are going to be phased out by. 1991, but by then they could make up 50 percent of the league. Those that are here won’t just go home. ”These players will continue circulating around the game for six or seven years. That means you’ve lost a decade that could have been used for developing local players. It’s time lost and you can’t get it back. No proper planning for the future.
”We must face the fact that we are totally unprepared to play at international level. We are not just talking about senior players; international football means youth teams as well. ”Competitions like the Chappies Little League don’t meet the needs. Knock-out competitions don’t serve much purpose. You need something where kids can compete regularly. ”It is at the junior level that you have to apply your doctrines even more seriously. Just mass producing youth football is pointless. ”You have to let the best compete against the best and put the most promising in clinics. They should be taught at an age where their minds are open. With youth that is the secret. ”You can’t play at these things; it’s got to be ultra-professional. In some African states conditions are bad but the soccer has been developed. Nigeria has had a bad time but they produce bloody good football teams.
”In Zambia, where I was national coach, they also had an 18 team league. We blew six teams out at once. ”Each of those 12 clubs had to set up development programmes for youth and under-18 players. Three years later, Zambia reached the Olympic finals, where they beat Italy. ”I can understand that people here are concerned to expand the game. But in the long run you are going to have to get more selective anyway. And if you go down the right road initially, you get there quicker. ”That means setting goals -what do we want from our soccer in two, four, five years time? You need a national policy and a national coach, “The potential is enormous. Many players here are technically superior to their counterparts in Europe. There is a very high degree of skill. Because of the overload, you are only going to see it in flashes. But it could be so bloody good.â€
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.
