Two weeks ago, South Africa witnessed one of the worst cold fronts in a while. Fortunately, it was an unforeseen and temporary inconvenience. It is easy to forget about the mild winters currently forecast by the weather bureau.
Weather remains the only unpredictable phenomenon about which we cannot do much. Pity the weatherman cannot tell us about the state of affairs of national football ahead of time. But, who needs the weatherman when South African football is such a predictable public relations sham.
The saga of Benni McCarthy versus the South African Football Association (Safa) versus the soccer-loving people of this country is a classic case of public relations gone wrong. It has little if anything to do with football, the beautiful game. It is ugly.
Let us recap. The prolific Blackburn Rovers striker — the emphasis being on prolific — retired from Bafana Bafana after being accused of all sorts of things including inciting a wage strike on the eve of the important Africa Nations Cup, which, by the way, we lost dismally.
By asking to be recused from national duty for a while, he established his place in the tough English league. McCarthy has also been accused of being ”unpatriotic”, for which the nation is finding it difficult to forgive him.
McCarthy did not ask for anything stars such as Brazilian Ronaldo, French Patrick Viera and Samuel E’too of Cameroon have not requested of their countries from time to time. Unlike his other counterparts, such as Quinton Fortune, he has not faked numerous injuries if only to avoid national duty.
Similarly, Safa cannot be accused of not demanding of McCarthy what they demand of other players. Take Benedict Vilakazi, the diminutive Orlando Pirates utility player. Two seasons ago, when Pirates were winning almost every game and competed in continental competitions, Vilakazi, who played almost every game for his team — until the messy rape trial — still did national duty, injury and fatigue notwithstanding. And he did not, at least not publicly, raise any ire about the purported bad fees Safa advanced to its prized assets.
Public relations can be described as a combination of information flow plus the sum total of impressions people have about a person, company, situation, phenomenon or even era. There is one thing we can say about the information flow where our football is concerned. At the best of times, it is characterised by senseless blabbering with senior officials saying one thing and turning around the very next day, sometimes hours later, to retract or to blame it on the media for having quoted them ”out of context”.
McCarthy himself is no angel when it comes to this matter. This prodigal son easily lets the expletives fly through his motor mouth and that always compromises him in the eye of the observer. His affairs are well managed though — I mean, there is no doubt that if he broke a limb today, goodness forbid, he would still retire far better off than most sorry Safa officials who have made it their business to blaspheme him.
Public relations is a game of managing perceptions. As South Africa prepares to take its bid to qualify for the 2008 Africa Nations Cup, we find ourselves once again dealing with perceptions that do not bode well for football.
The most prolific striker South Africa has had since readmission — who also happens to be the second-hottest goal finder in England after Didier Drogba — will not be in the field to help us conquer Chad in Durban on Saturday only because he believes he was offended and he deserves an apology. The man/men said to have done the offending will not apologise because they believe McCarthy is just a brat who seeks attention and thinks the sun shines out of his backside.
Chad may not be the biggest of our challenges going ahead. And even though our start at the Cosafa week last weekend left much to be desired, coach Alberto Parreira should have enough of an arsenal to conquer the North Africans and take us a step closer to redeeming ourselves on the continent after a dismal performance last year.
The sum total of our impression about Safa with regard to McCarthy is simple: Safa does not value arguably the best asset we have in our squad, both in terms of talent and branding value. Anyone who wants to argue differently is a liar. After Nelson Mandela, Table Mountain, rampant crime and the succession battle, McCarthy should count as another recognisable brand from South Africa.
The sum total of our impression about McCarthy versus the country is that the young Cape Flats lad is arrogant and thinks that this country owes him a favour.
He has failed to think beyond his nose and our perceptions about him blur our view of his talents and worth.
The solution: Safa must give McCarthy some credit and treat him with the respect he deserves and has earned on the international stage. And McCarthy needs to get someone to manage his public relations.