A revolutionary restructuring of football is being touted, which could see ”a government representative and a well-respected businessman” being appointed to a new body that would run the affairs of the country’s national teams, the head of the South African Football Association’s (Safa) technical committee, Sturu Pasiya, told the Mail & Guardian this week.
Also on the cards is an accommodation for equal representation on the newly constituted governing body of Safa and the Premier Soccer League (PSL). Details of the exact size of the body and who will be responsible for the day-to-day administration are still sketchy.
But what is known is that the envisaged structure will look after the interests of all the national teams, from junior to senior level.
It is understood that proposals for the overhaul of the body charged with managing the local game are contained in reports tabled at the most recent meetings of the national executive committee of Safa. The reorganisation has been triggered by Bafana Bafana’s failure to qualify for the World Cup in Germany, and the team’s dismal showing at the African Nations Cup in Egypt.
The changes being mooted come hard on the heels of proposals by the technical committee to establish a coaching think tank to resurrect South African football.
The ideas being debated at Nasrec, the Safa headquarters, are not in step with the seemingly implausible suggestion by the Kaizer Chiefs supremo, Kaizer Motaung, who wrote on his club’s website last week that ”the PSL must create a division that administers all matters pertaining to the national team”.
While he has been the only one to agitate publicly for the professional wing to take charge of Bafana Bafana, it echoes a sentiment in soccer circles for more professionalism. Football pundits have derided Motaung’s comments as unrealistic, pointing out that there is no parallel in world football.
In sharp contrast, argues Pasiya, the latest attempts at restructuring have precedents on the African continent and Europe. The restructuring is informed directly by the British system, where there is an international committee with equal representation from both the Premier League and the amateur body, the Football Association.
It is also influenced by what Côte d’Ivoire did a few years back to revamp football in the country after accusations of corruption and mismanagement led to a slump in on and off the field performance. The Ivorians roped in a government-appointed official whose job it was to act as a link between football and the government, as well as handling all financial issues — from receiving and disbursing sponsorship money to accounting for donations. The West African country has since qualiÂÂfied for the World Cup for the first time and lost in the final of the African Nations Cup to the hosts, Egypt.
Pasiya told the M&G that the latest manoeuvres were also influenced by concerns that football is run by selfish individuals whose sole aim is to rake in the perks. He said there is a greater realisation that the sport should be administered by people who can attend to the ”day-to-day business of the game, people who are not involved in a thousand things”.
But Pasiya cautioned that it would be ”unrealistic” to ask club owners to step aside. ”You can’t have a board with people who have no direct interest in football. All over the world, that is the structure.”
Meanwhile, a Section 21 company will be established to adminiÂÂster referees from next season. It will establish an independent professional body for referees that will deal with remuneration and training. According to Pasiya, ”it is a matter of accommodating it in the Constitution now. This was agreed on last year already.”
There has been a clamouring to improve the image and quality of referees for some time, particularly following the now infamous Operation Dribble saga last year, when referees and club officials were investigated for alleged match-fixing.