Editor's Column - Clint Roper

So the 2014/15 PSL season has come and gone. Last weekend the Nedbank Cup final was played, and congratulations have to go to Mamelodi Sundowns for securing some much-needed silverware for their trophy cabinet.     The PSL awards evening saw Tefu Mashamaite the big winner on the night, and while he missed out on the Soccer Laduma Readers' Player of the Season Award, which Soccer Laduma readers gave to his partner in crime at the back Erick Mathoho, Masha clearly did enough to impress the judges that adjudicated the PSL awards ceremony as he walked away with the Absa Premiership Players' Player of the Season, Footballer of the Season and Defender of the Season Awards, as well as just short of half a million rand. Well done Masha!     Stuart Baxter deservedly was named Coach of the Season after his impressive exploits at the helm of Kaizer Chiefs this season, while Moeneeb Josephs was recognised as the league's best goalkeeper.   Of all the awards handed out, for me the one that was most pleasing to see was Teko Modise being handed the Midfielder of the Season Award. The general feeling out there at the start of the season was that possibly Teko's best days were behind him, but he shocked all with a magnificent campaign and possibly, if his teammates had come to the party to make the PSL more of a contest this season, he would have also been more of a threat for the Footballer of the Season Award.    With so much silverware and cash being flashed around, it's maybe difficult for the PSL to look in the mirror and see anything but a shining image reflecting back. But once the flashes have stopped going off and the money and bling have been put away, perhaps the PSL needs to go back to that mirror and have a long hard look at itself and realise that all is not well with the image staring back at them.    We have just had a PSL team lead the league race from start to finish virtually unopposed. And, if we are completely honest, this is certainly not one of the great Kaizer Chiefs teams of modern times, but rather a hardworking, honest shift put in by a very thin squad… certainly when compared to some of the others Chiefs generations that have romped away with it in the end. I'm not sure what that says about the competitiveness of our league, but for me it's a sign that the other teams are getting weaker and less competitive.    That Kaizer Chiefs could win the league having conceded just 14 goals all season is startling! Is that all it takes to win our league? It's genius from Baxter, really, if you think about it. Rather than try and improve a strike force by 50 percent in order to out-score other teams, it is a lot easier in this country to improve a defence by 10 percent, such is the poor quality of goalscoring in this league. Simply put, a 10 percent increase in the capability of a defensive unit will get you to the top of the table. And this was done, to a large extent, without their best keeper in goal for most of the season!   To further emphasize the point, we handed the Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot Award to our leading marksman, Moeketsi Sekola, who needed just 14 goals to land the title! 14 goals! So conceding only 14 goals wins you the league, and scoring 14 goals wins you the top goalscorer award?! Quite frankly, it's a rather bizarre situation.   And all the while we continue to boast about being one of the best leagues on the continent, yet we were found horribly wanting in the African Champions League as both of our juggernauts crashed and burned early in the competition once again. People may say that this can't be such a bad thing because, if you look at a successful league like the English Premiership, their teams also exited the UEFA Champions League early, so what's the big deal? Well I think English football and the EPL is facing as much of a crisis as the PSL when it comes to the quality of their product. It's clear to see by how weak the English national team is, just as it's clear to see how weak Bafana Bafana is currently. The only difference is that the EPL has done enough in the past to embed the culture of football in their society, which is why we continue to see full stadiums week after week. Here in South Africa the stadiums seem to get emptier and emptier by the season.    Certainly some of the football on display is not good enough to bring people to the stadium, and the creation of what seems to be a TV league of PSL spectators will continue to grow because now, at the flick of a button, a PSL TV spectator can simply switch from his Swallows versus Chippa United game to the English Premier League, to the Bundesliga, to La Liga or to the Serie A. What's more, he can now compare our quality to that which the rest of the world gets to watch week in and week out and decide for himself on the real strength of the PSL, compared to what other nations have on offer.    And, to make matters worse, the PSL is now facing a match-fixing scandal that will only hurt the image of the game further and make those who actually do come to stadiums wonder if it is even worth it.    Coaches that have proven themselves get dumped and those that fail simply get hired somewhere else on this never-ending roundabout of coaching mediocrity.    Yes, this sentiment may not go down well, but the image in the mirror that stares back at us after this PSL season is one that should make the stakeholders spring into action, devising ways to get bums back on seats and make soccer the rightful number one sport in this country – and this hopefully based not on the fact that most of the people in this country like watching soccer, but because they are compelled to watch their passion.    To all our Soccer Laduma readers, enjoy the off-season! Make sure you stay glued to www.snl24.com/soccerladuma for the transfer frenzy, which is about to get going, and thank you for continuing to buy your 'ticket' to the best soccer read in Mzansi each week.    Shapa Clint