Old habits seem to die hard as NSL officials continue to operate with too much secrecy and too much control
SOCCER: Andrew Muchineripi
ONE sometimes wonders what leading South African soccer officials read during their leisure hours. Tales of Central African dictators from days gone by, perhaps?
There certainly seems to be a longing for unnecessary control among some gentlemen who reside at National Soccer League (NSL) headquarters in Soccer City.
I can imagine them reading this and muttering that those awful people from the media are at it again. Always looking at the negative side of affairs. Sensationalists who belong among the English “gutter” press. But the facts of the matter are that while South African political rulers preach transparency, the NSL often prefers to operate in such secrecy that one would think state security was at risk. Take, for example, the draw for the first-round proper of the Bob Save Super Bowl knockout competition, the South African equivalent of the FA Cup in England.
Can you imagine the FA Cup draw being conducted in a television studio with a couple of representatives from the sponsors, a few football officials and a few members of the media present.
The answer, in case you did not guess, is no! Well, that is what happened last Thursday at Auckland Park and the rest of the South African soccer community only became aware of who had drawn whom two days later when the event was televised. One newspaper, whose intrepid reporter sneaked into the draw much to the annoyance of the “soccer secret police”, was inundated with calls from clubs wanting to know who their opponents were. The timing of the draw on television was also bizarre, to put it mildly. It was broadcast during the interval of a Coca- Cola Cup quarter-final between Supersport United and Kaizer Chiefs.
While Coca-Cola and First National Bank may not be direct competitors, the makers of the “real thing” were surely entitled to have the centre stage to themselves.
One would also have thought that the chairmen of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) were entitled to attend the Super Bowl draw. Unfortunately, they were holding a meeting at a downtown Johannesburg hotel while the draw was being made.
So much for the secrecy, now to the desire to control, which is clearly illustrated by the fact that the NSL has once again returned to its bad old habits of ignoring established international norms. In just about every other country, the first team out of the hat (or glass bowl to be precise) has the option of playing at home. Here, big brother must scrutinise the pairings first.
Remember the bad old days when certain clubs (no names, no scandal) always seemed to have home advantage, especially if they had difficult opponents to contend with.
Finally, after relentless media pressure over several years, the international practice of giving home advantage to the first team out was reluctantly accepted.
But old habits die hard. The dictators were losing control of the situation. Who were those nasty media men to tell them what to do. It was time to return to the dark ages.
The most glaring example of interference was the decision to take the Coca-Cola Cup quarter-final between Bush Bucks and Orlando Pirates to Boet Erasmus, the Port Elizabeth home of Eastern Cape rugby. Big brother decided that Independence Stadium in Umtata, the natural home of Bucks, was not big enough to host the expected large crowd so it was switched to a stadium 500km away.
Bucks protested in vain and the fact that they won 4-1 on penalties obviously softened the anger considerably. The fact is Bucks were right to be angry.
The bottom line is that the clubs must be allowed to make the decisions. If Bucks want to play Pirates on Mars, and can arrange appropriate transport, so be it.
Contrary to what some NSL officials believe, club officials are capable of making decisions in the best interests of the team, its players, and its supporters.
If, for example, an amateur club like Boksburg are drawn at home to Kaizer Chiefs, they will quickly realise that their ground is too small to accommodate the likely crowd, and make alternate arrangements. So, NSL officials, let the clubs dictate their affairs. After all, if they choose the wrong venue, they lose out. Then the NSL can attend to more pressing matters, like answering telephones that ring endlessly.
On the subject of media criticism, it would appear the Premier Soccer League (PSL) took a few unfair cracks of the whip for changing the time and venue of the midweek clash of Orlando Pirates and Sundowns. When the fixture list was drawn up several weeks ago, the authorities could not have known that the Rand Stadium would be closed indefinitely while new seating was installed.
The original kickoff time of 3pm was obvious madness and it made more sense to turn the attractive pairing into a floodlit fixture, although the late notice given to the clubs was unacceptable.
One can but hope that as time passes, the professionalism imported from England in the form of Trevor Phillips will rub off on those around him and criticism of secrecy and bungling will become obsolete. Contrary to popular belief among ultra- sensitive football officials, the media do have better things to do than criticise, but they dare not ignore issues which clog the telephone lines on radio talk shows. In the dream world of the would-be dictators, all their critics will be sent on all-expenses-paid holidays to some Indian Ocean island, where they will remain forever.
The officials will then create their news bulletin, full of prose extolling the virtues of these hard-working officials. And what will they call it? The Daily Deceiver, of course.