This weekend’s SAA Supa8 final between Supersport United and Bloemfontein Celtic at Olen Park in Potchefstroom provides a glimpse of both what is right and what is pitiful about youth development in South African soccer.
In the wake of Bafana Bafana’s demise as a continental powerhouse, talk is of revisiting development structures as a remedy for declining fortunes.
Proponents of such thinking point to France, who missed the 1990 and 1994 World Cup finals yet went on to win the event they hosted in 1998.
We are pointed to the famous Clairefontaine Institute, which the French created with the express purpose of developing exceptional players.
It is history that the French not only went on to win the tournament they had prepared for but also reclaimed their status as one of football’s aristocrats.
Back to South Africa. Here the sport’s governing bodies are fraught with so many differences and under-investment that the development of young talent is left to clubs.
It does not help comparing resources spent at Clairefontaine and those spent at the South African Football Association-run School of Excellence.
The two institutions reflect the political economies of their states. France is highly developed and has one of the highest taxed citizenries. The French can afford to spend millions of euros on developing players as they did at Clairefontaine.
South Africa, on the other hand, is a developing state and a suggestion that inordinate amounts of taxpayers’ money be used to nurture talent will get as much sympathy as one that the arms deal was underfunded.
So, clubs must develop their own if they want to compete in a market where transfer fees compete with the price of Brent Crude in terms of which will keep rising for longer.
That is why Saturday’s match is set to provide much more than on-the-pitch excitement for the fans.
Most of the players who will perform on Saturday reflect the wisdom of nurturing talent rather than attempting to buy success.
Each team is packed with young homegrown talent (meaning those for whom the club is their first professional outfit).
Names such as Siboniso Gaxa, Daine Klaite and Phil Evans at Supersport were unknown until coach Pitso Mosimane changed things.
At Celtic, players like Kleinbooi Taaibos, Moses Spandeel and Collins Chabalala were inconsequential to the football public until they made their mark for Siwelele sa Masele.
But, on the downside of how development by domestic clubs is going, each team will feature a youngster who would not be playing in this final had his previous coach been more discerning.
Siyabonga Nkosi and Sibusiso Mahlangu are likely to meet in a midfield duel whose winner could determine the destiny of the trophy.
Celtic’s Nkosi was discarded by Orlando Pirates after the club had recognised enough talent to promote to the first team but insufficient to keep him there.
The Buccaneers did not recognise or were too impatient to realise that, in Nkosi, they had discovered a player who is now compared to the great Doctor Khumalo.
As with Khumalo, Nkosi probably learned to dribble before he could walk. Such is his natural talent that he does not seem to think what he needs to do with the ball. He can destroy opposition moves, create ones for his side, pass and score.
Mahlangu, now with defending cup champions Supersport, must have wondered what criteria Kaizer Chiefs used to promote the likes of Skapie Malatsi and Junior Khanye ahead of him.
Chiefs’ loss and curious inability to spot talent became Supersport’s gain. Mahlangu is the team’s Edgar Davids sans the eyewear. He works tirelessly, offensively and defensively.
And, as both Pirates and Chiefs know by now, he has a penchant for scoring great goals from long distances. It is only a matter of time before Stuart Baxter’s successor picks him as a replacement for one of the once tried and tested who are now the tired and detested.
The Supa8 final and the teams contesting it could not have been better chosen. Neither is a traditional powerhouse of the game — although Supersport might beg to differ as they won two cup competitions and were a finalist in another last year.
Celtic and Supersport bring passionate fans, ambitious coaches and club owners, and players whose sheer will to win can confound so-called experts.
The national squad might be a shambles, but who says there’s anything wrong with the local game?