Editor's Column - Clint Roper

In the 15-and-a-half years I have spent with Soccer Laduma, it's seldom that I have seen price increases for this publication. As a new journo coming in, in 1999, at first I didn't get it. It seemed a no-brainer that Peter du Toit simply had to up the price of the paper by a rand or so, a price the market looked like it would clearly accept, and he would then be able to rake in a lot more money for putting out Africa's biggest soccer paper each week.    Even an extra 50 cents on the 330 000 sales or so a week would amount to a tidy increase in profits. But usually, for years on end, there would be no price increase, and when there was it was by no more than a couple of cents, if that. Listening to his reasoning each time, it soon became very clear that Peter wanted every single soccer-loving fan in this country to have access to a quality soccer publication that was easily affordable; that in no way hurt the soccer fans' pockets each week. And, to this day, as we announce a price increase, it is no more than 20 cents in an effort to offset the growing costs associated with putting Soccer Laduma out, and that announcement is done with the utmost respect and caring for each and every reader.    It's so humbling to be part of putting together a product that is each week filled with so much quality but, more than that, with so much love from each and every person in this organisation. It's exciting and a privilege to be part of a company… a brand… that is literally growing up around me almost on a weekly basis. We went from being a weekly paper, to a weekly paper and a website, to adding Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WeChat and Google+ accounts to our profile. We also started SLTV and then launched the Soccer Laduma Supporters Club! Soon after, a Soccer Laduma Research Department as well as Brands Laduma website emerged, and now we have Laduma Connect to help you get jobs. And we continue to grow each and every week, it seems. All of this is possible simply because there are passionate people here who are nuts about your passion… our passion… soccer.    So a huge thanks for your continued support! All of us here at Soccer Laduma hope that the extra 20 cents a week will not hurt your pocket too much and that you will continue to be part of South African soccer's biggest community.    Talking about community, a lot is being made of the fact that the Big Three in the PSL are all being led by local sons of the soil, so to speak. All three – Eric Tinkler, Pitso Mosimane and Steve Komphela – were top players. All three played for their country, all three spent valuable time abroad as players, and now all three lead massive South African clubs. Already there are questions as to whether Steve is the right man for the job, as to whether Pitso is the guy who can conquer Africa for Patrice Motsepe with this mighty Mamelodi Sundowns team, and whether Eric can lead Orlando Pirates back to the 'Promised Land'.    The way I see it, the reason locals have not received the best rub of the green in the past is that there almost always seems to have been a different set of rules applied by clubs, and even the playing squads, to local coaches. Now this might just be the perception I have, and maybe it does not completely hold true, but at the big clubs it seemed that locals usually only get a club when it is in a crisis, in an interim capacity or when nobody else is available. The feeling I always had was that locals came cheaper, were easier to get rid of, were more open to interference and were less likely to try and stamp their authority on the way things would run at a club.     When it came to players who played under locals, for some reason South African players seemed to respect foreign coaches more than local coaches… as if an accent and a couple of European footballing terms held more weight than something said by a South African. Even if these foreign coaches had achieved little to nothing as players themselves, they were afforded the respect from our local players that just didn't seem to be extended to local coaches. And, what's more, the local players seemed to relish in the knowledge that exercising player power to work a local coach out was a much easier process than getting rid of an embedded foreign coach.     I hope things have changed. There is a sense that we are approaching a new horizon in South African soccer… a next chapter. But, for this to work, it's going to take everyone in the industry to respect each other and, more than that, value our own. Already the clubs and the club bosses have led the way by providing the opportunity. What now has to be done is for the players and the fans to reciprocate that show of support and confidence.    Shappa,  Clint