Andrew Muchineripi soccer Just when I thought it was safe to put my weary feet up, light the pipe (sorry, Mrs Tshabalala-Msimang) and forget about the sometimes beautiful game for a couple of weeks, the telephone rang.
My worst fears were realised. It was the sports editor of your favourite newspaper on the line to remind yours truly that Christmas was coming, the goose was getting fat, so please put a review of the year in Santa’s sack.
What is it about reviews that hacks, both permanent and temporary, hate so much? Are our brain cells so minute that we cannot remember what happened a mere 11 months ago? Or has so much happened on and off the pitch during the year that we fear no space, no matter how large, can possibly accommodate all the pristine prose we are capable of producing?
After the “boss” convinced me that it really would be an excellent idea to get out of my beloved rocking chair, haul out the laptop, and get typing in my pain-staking two-fingered manner, I bowed to the inevitable, so here goes …
I tend to see a year in terms of good and bad and, sadly, the latter dominated the headlines with the mid-year failure to win the right to host the 2006 World Cup dominating all else. Better luck next time, South Africa.
Just three days after that disappointment of Zurich, Bafana Bafana players lay on the turf at the National stadium in Harare after police tear gas triggered a stampede that left 13 Zimbabweans dead.
Then there was the disastrous end to an otherwise enjoyable African women’s championship with politicians and football officials unable to stop a bunch of missile-throwing thugs from bringing the final to a premature end.
On happier notes, we finished third behindlllll Cameroon and Nigeria at the 2000llll African Nations Cup. Yes, of course we wanted to win the event, but we have no divine right to do so and three top-three finishes in a row is good going.
The appointment of Mozambique-born Carlos Queiroz as national coach heralded an increased level of professionalism and one wants to believe that he and assistant Trott Moloto can take our national team forward.
Congratulations to Sundowns, who won the Castle Premiership at a canter before losing to Kaizer Chiefs in a Bob Save Super Bowl final that could have swung either way.
Praise must also be lavished on the new kids on the block, Ajax Cape Town, for their demolition of Orlando Pirates in the replay of the last Rothmans (oops, sorry again, Mrs Tshabalala-Msimang) Cup final.
Seldom has a team so liberally laced with seasoned professionals, many of them national-team players, been so completely outclassed by a bunch of babies and well done, Buccaneers coach Gordon Igesund, for admitting so.
Some things never change in South African football, notably criticism of referees. The irony is that while Robbie Williams is considered good enough to handle the African Champions League final, he is crucified at home. Unlike many football fans, I do not despair over the men in black because in 24-year-old Gauteng schoolteacher Daniel Bennett, I believe South Africa has unearthed a gem.
To send one Chiefs player off requires a degree of courage; to send two off merits an award for bravery. I watched the slow-motion replays from Rustenburg many times and both red cards were fully justified.
Steve Lekoelea of Pirates and Jabu Pule of Chiefs, the crowd-pulling hopes for the future, varied between brilliance and mediocrity with alarming regularity. Like Johannesburg weather, one never knew what to expect.
As the crowds continue to dwindle at all but the juiciest Premier Soccer League (PSL) and South African Football Association promotions, much has been made about marketing and security. But we can call on Saatchi & Saatchi to sell the game and the American Secret Service to protect those who bother to turn up and it will not make the slightest difference unless we develop some new Doctor Khumalos.
Football in Africa much more than in Europe has a lot to do with personalities, and if you were to ask me who is a must-see on the PSL circuit, I would battle to come up with even one name.
That is not to say there are no good footballers in South Africa. There are quite a few. But that is not enough. We need some great ones to get the media and the public buzzing again like they did in the 1970s. It is true that our national sport has never been in better shape financially with each Premiership club guaranteed R200?000 a month and sponsors tripping over each other as they beat a path to Safa and PSL headquarters.
But sponsors, for all their spin doctoring, are not going to stay with a sport that cannot get its house in order. let us act while the door is still open and the horses inside.