/ 29 October 1999

Time to end the squabbles

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer

A glance at the headlines says it all: “Pirates, Chiefs get ultimatum”, “Missing file: Ndhlela accused”, “We’ll expose PSL corruption – Stars”, “Motimele report not Balfour’s baby”.

As if that assortment of words was not depressing enough, there was also, “Buccaneers bite the dust”. Where will the gloom and doom end, this humble member of the Muchineripi clan wonders.

Thank heavens for Jannie de Beer! After the cruel exit of Orlando Pirates from the African Cup Winners Cup semi-finals, defeat against England in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals might have seen me seeking a high-rise ledge.

Before leaving analysis of the Springboks to my esteemed rugby colleagues on the Mail & Guardian sports team, permit me to observe how wonderful it was to see South Africans fighting for, rather than against, each other.

Perhaps that is why smiles are back on the faces of rugby followers while those whose first love is the ultimate game of the people are displaying all the happiness of vegetarians seated in a steakhouse.

Apart from a wonderful comeback by Pirates to wipe out a two-goal deficit against Africa Sports of Cte d’Ivoire, only to lose the tie through woeful penalty taking, what else is there to cheer us up during these dark days.

Well, our beloved Amaglug-glug are sure to fill Vosloorus Stadium on Saturday for a 2000 Olympics qualifier against Guinea. After a great start in Ghana, where they drew 2-2, our boys should triumph provided complacency is eradicated.

There are also the Rothmans Cup semi- finals between Jomo Cosmos and Manning Rangers and Sundowns and Orlando Pirates provided, of course, they take place at all given the ever-increasing number of boardroom battles.

Free State Stars defeated Cosmos twice only to be evicted because they used an alleged ineligible player. The QwaQwa club are appealing, and claiming that their file was removed from the Premier Soccer League (PSL) offices.

What Stars are saying is that a senior PSL official handed the file to Jomo Cosmos, whose officials examined it until they found a speck of dirt. I sincerely hope for the sake of football that the file was not removed.

Why, you may understandably ask, would an official from the league, which is there to serve not favour, do such a despicable thing? Well, let me paint a possible scenario.

It is the worst kept soccer secret (unless you read a daily inhabited by sycophants) that civil war has erupted with PSL boss Joe Ndhlela and Cosmos boss Jomo Sono fighting Chiefs boss Kaizer Motaung and Pirates boss Irvin Khoza.

Public slagging matches and threats of legal action have been continuing for some time with some journalists becoming involved, unwittingly or otherwise, in the propaganda war.

Stars boss Mike Mokoena, whose beaming smile after victory over Cosmos (we are talking about the match on the pitch) could have melted a maiden 1 000m away, is considered a supporter of Motaung and Khoza. Need I write more?

Equally worrying is the setting up of a committee, which includes Motaung, Khoza and Sono (so fasten your seat belt tightly), to investigate possible financial irregularities within the PSL.

Have we not been down this road a few times over the last few years? Abdul Bhamjee, Cyril Kobus, Stix Morewa to name but a few. Surely we have had enough soccer-related scandals.

To cap it all the PSL wants to charge Chiefs and Pirates unless they say sorry for claiming the professional wing was “incompetent” over the on-off-on-off-will- it-ever-be-played fixture between the Amakhosi and Hellenic.

It would all be funny if it were not so serious. Not for the first time may I remind our soccer leaders that we are trying to convince the world that South Africa is capable of hosting the 2006 World Cup.

Despite the efficiency of Germany and arrogance of England, the time has come for Africa to stage the biggest single-sport event in the world so let us not provide our enemies with ammunition they so desperately need.

Motaung runs a club that is the envy even of some in the English Premiership, Khoza turned Pirates into African champions within four years of taking charge, and Sono often provides refreshing commonsense.

Is it too much for ordinary people like you and me to ask them to sit around a table, discuss their differences, bury their egos and agree to work together for the good of the game?

If this is not possible, then let us have elections with the winners taking charge and the losers getting lost. The stands are rapidly emptying, sending a clear message to our rulers. The clock is ticking and it’s five minutes to midnight.