Andrew Muchineripi looks at how 1999 treated local soccer
It was a year that began with newly appointed Premier Soccer League (PSL) CEO Joe Ndhlela talking of a domestic set-up that would rival the best in Europe.
It was a year that ended with Ndhlela suspended for bringing the game into disrepute after charges of fraud and corruption at previous employer Transnet were laid against him.
As for the beautiful game, it had taken on a rather ugly appearance and comparisons with an agricultural union league in the Central African Republic were more appropriate than the English Premiership or Serie A.
For anyone who believes officials should be heard but not seen, it was a deeply disappointing 12 months as the “bigwigs” seemed to command more media attention than the footballers.
The game, at times, appeared no more than a convenient stage for leading officials to display envy, jealousy, egoism and a host of other bad habits football can ill afford.
So instead of a vibrant, visionary PSL at the end of the millennium, we have an organisation in a state of semi-paralysis with many officials more concerned about personal advancement than the good of the game.
There were incredible ironies amid all the verbal garbage that polluted a sport too many people, ordinary people like you and I, have become totally disillusioned with.
Irvin Khoza, chair of the 2006 World Cup bid committee, vice-president of the South African Football Association (Safa), a member of the PSL Board of Governors and managing director of Orlando Pirates, was constantly under fire. His rivals claimed he drank from the fountain of power, that he wanted to control everything and everyone, that he would ultimately destroy the game he was supposed to be promoting.
Strange that, because who voted the Iron Duke to head the bid committee, and on to the Safa executive? Let me tell you – it was the very same people who make him out to be such a four-headed monster.
This humble member of the Muchineripi clan has never met Khoza nor his ally Kaizer Moutaung of Kaizer Chiefs, but I must say one thing in my final column of this century – they act rather than talk, and I admire that in any person.
It is time some of their bitterest rivals, like Ndhlela, Jomo Sono and Nastasia Tsichlas stopped being reactive and started being proactive. Let them take on the dynamic duo and beat them at their own game. Let us see progress.
Then, and only then, will I respect them and others who moan and groan and then moan and groan again before going to watch their clubs performing before audiences that scribes will soon count in tens rather than hundreds.
Before moving to the field of play, where I must warn you matters are not an awful lot better, one cannot forget the pathetic Rothmans Cup saga that did no one any favours.
One spin doctor from the cigarette company gave the impression on TV before a final easily won by Sundowns that the six- round legal battle actually added to the appeal of the competition.
If you believe that you will believe anything. The “unbelievable” competition degenerated into an “unbelievable” farce, and the sole consolation was that the team that won on the field, Free State Stars, eventually won off it as well.
Okay, enough about the men in suits and on to the men, many of whom I suspect cannot afford a suit, around whom the game is supposed to revolve. In case you are puzzled, they are known as professional footballers.
Some are professional. They dress properly on the field, they believe in fair play, they can pass the ball accurately to a team-mate and when the come within sight of goal, they can at least shoot close to the target.
As for some others, they cannot even take a throw-in properly, they give the ball away as a matter of course, they love long, hopelessly-off-target passes, skill is an alien word but late, over-the-top tackling is de rigueur.
What has happened to our sublime African skills? Why must so many of our footballers try to imitate the Wimbledon of old? Are European zombies, trading as coaches, destroying our natural talent?
As an elder citizen of Mother Africa, I believe wholeheartedly in the “African renaissance”, in the people who inhabit the soil from Cairo to Cape Town, but I fear football has virtually sold its soul to some European god.
Before you think I’ve swallowed too many anti-depressants, let me salute those boys from the East Rand. Viva, Classic, viva! There is a new “slaughter house” and it’s called Makhulong Stadium. Well done, Bra Khabo.
The Greek Gods of Hellenic have also done superbly with limited resources and African Wanderers from Durban are another bunch of newly-promoted rookies doing themselves and Durban proud. While I love to record local-is-lekker stories, it must be admitted that three gentlemen who were obviously not born in Tembisa are in charge of the three most serious title challengers.
Paul Dolezar, Ted Dumitru and Muhsin Ertugral hold the reins at Sundowns, Pirates and Chiefs. Sundowns have already won the Rothmans Cup and it is hard to visualise the Castle Premiership not being won by one of the trio.
That leaves the Bob Save Super Bowl and after the success of SuperSport United last season, it could be the turn of another outsider. Manning Rangers perhaps, or Ajax Cape Town, or Wits University, or Jomo Cosmos.
Bafana Bafana had a modest year of five wins, six draws and three losses. The highlight was our victory over Sweden, the first against European opposition, and the nadir the two-goal loss in faraway Trinidad and Tobago.
It was not a year to get overly excited about Bafana because there were many friendlies and few truly competitive matches. The acid test comes next month at the African Nations Cup in Ghana and Nigeria.
I wish Bra Trott Moloto success. While his squad has already been criticised by most media “experts”, it can go far provided the midfield balance is right, although I do share concerns regarding the defensive ability of the wingbacks.
If we cannot top a group including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Algeria and Gabon, then we do not deserve to lift the trophy. Realistically, I can see Bafana finishing third behind Nigeria and Ghana, but not going all the way.
Enjoy the holiday season, my friends in football, and if you must drink and drive, make sure the drink is nothing stronger than water. I take several litres a day and have never felt better, until I watch some local games, that is.
ENDS