Andrew Muchineripi Soccer
Premier Soccer League chief executive officer Trevor Phillips has tried and failed to reduce the size of the 18- club Castle Premiership, the richest national championship in Africa.
This week, his South African Football Association counterpart, Danny Jordaan, tackled the same problem from a different angle, proposing that his organisation buy two clubs and close them.
If the plan sounds desperate, so is the situation, with league action swallowing up each weekend, leaving no space for international fixtures, apart from obligatory African Nations Cup qualifying matches.
Recalling his vain attempt last year to trim excess fat, Phillips said it was like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas, a reference to the fact that only Premiership club chairmen can vote for a leaner league.
The Jordaan proposal makes sense, because money lies at the heart of the problem, with Premiership clubs guaranteed R120E000 a month and First Division teams virtually nothing.
Premiership football represents heaven and the First Division hell and only when this chasm between the haves and have-nots is considerably reduced, can there be any hope of a change in attitude by clubs.
Where this card-carrying, fully paid- up member of the Muchineripi clan disagrees with Phillips and Jordaan is in the ideal size of a national soccer championship.
At grave risk to my limbs the next time I set foot inside a Premiership ground, I propose a gradual reduction – four clubs up and two down each season – until there are 12 clubs in what I would call a Super League.
Acknowledging the need for a “purgatory” between heaven and hell, I would set up a new, national, strongly sponsored premier league, also consisting of 12 clubs with automatic entry into the Rothmans Cup and Bob Save Super Bowl.
Perhaps Super League matches could be played over two days each weekend, leaving one day free for Premier League action. This would greatly enhance media coverage of the lower division and make sponsorship more inticing.
Among the most vocal critics of the Jordaan plan this week were club owners Petrus “Whitehead” Molemela of Bloemfontein Celtic and Peter Rabali of newly promoted Dynamos.
Molemela had a simple if (in my humble opinion) bizarre solution to the problem – each of the 18 Premiership clubs must contribute one player to the Bafana Bafana squad.
Premiership rules state that a league match can be postponed only if three or more players are involved in international action and the Molemela proposal would end the need to rearrange matches.
Where the plan fails miserably is the one-club, one-player move which would mean only one star each from Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, clubs who have several worthy candidates for inclusion in the national squad.
On the other hand, there are numerous clubs without any potential national players, but I dare not name them lest the Mail & Guardian fax machine malfunction under the pressure of anti-Muchineripi literature from clubs.
Rabali believes black-owned, township- based clubs must be excluded from any “cull”, meaning Dynamos would survive although they have managed only one goal and one point after four rounds of Premiership action.
The Lion of the North says clubs which can barely attract 100 spectators must go, which raises an interesting issue of whether success or support is the criteria for Premiership membership.
Dynamos have much more support than Sundowns, who slammed seven goals past Santos last Sunday before a few hundred supporters, and the “Brazilians” would probably beat Dynamos with their reserve team.
The bottom line, surely, is the position a club occupies on the standings come the end of a season. If Dynamos are among the bottom four, they should go, irrespective of their history.
While cup competitions are always going to be something of a lottery, given the luck of the draw, a league table reflects the true worth of any team.
The system works around the world and it should also work in South Africa. The truth is that South Africa does not have enough quality players to form a 16-club national league, never mind 18. I have watched eight matches since the season began three weeks ago and few have risen above the mediocre.
Poor passing, poor crosses, poorly taken corners and unimaginative free kicks are the order of the day and no public relations officer, no matter how colourful his language, can disguise the fact.
Perhaps you consider this view too harsh. Do yourself a favour, then, and check the crowds at the eight fixtures this weekend. I believe only the clash of Kaizer Chiefs and Hellenic will draw more than 10E000 spectators.
Soccer is the game of the people, so would the people kindly inform me why they do not attend in any numbers, except when the Amakhosi and the Buccaneers clash. It would not have anything to do with the absence of good football and personalities, would it?