Like almost every passionate South African football lover, I couldn't wait for the beginning of the 2015/16 season as it promised to be one of #TBE (The Best Ever) since the inception of the PSL in 1996. However, at the halfway point of the season my excitement has dwindled tremendously!
What was it that raised my hopes after what was a somewhat dull 2014/15 season? Well, for the first time for as long as I can remember, we started the season with 12 local coaches at the helm of PSL teams. Considering the fact that Muhsin Ertugral and Kostadin Papic are South Africa's 'adopted sons' based on their understanding of local players and their football philosophy, that means we effectively only had two foreign coaches in charge of our elite teams.
My mind quickly jumped to the conclusion: This is the season for South African football to flourish! This is the season for our players to finally enjoy their football! This is the season for the supporters to finally get their money's worth! This is the season we finally see our players strut their stuff in front of capacity crowds! This is the season for SA football to finally take its rightful place as the most supported sport in the country! Finally, we – the football lovers – had a reason to smile and had no excuses to not go to stadiums.
Fast forward 13 games into the season, and I'm afraid to admit that it seems my mind played tricks on me. It really sold me a dummy because, although there have been glimpses of what South African football is all about, there's been very little to write home about. Our skilful players have continued to be restricted, stifled and almost reduced to robots because the game has become 'too tactical' and there's still no room for 'showboating' or 'playing to the gallery'. The 'tactical game' people make noise about, as far as I have seen, has been almost 90 percent about nullifying the opposition and 10 percent about trying to play counter-attacking football. That has been the overriding game-plan of most teams so far this season… and we wonder why supporters aren't bothered to attend games anymore.
There's been little to no creativity in games and therefore little reason for supporters to part with their hard-earned cash to attend games when they can sit in the comfort of their homes and flick channels whenever they get bored with a match.
The level of fear instilled in our players is mind-boggling and the sooner we improve our coaching the better! We need to challenge our coaches and club owners to bring back the entertainment value to our game, otherwise there will continue to be little need for anyone to attend games. More and more coaches are playing not to lose, instead of going out to collect points. When was the last time you witnessed an open game… real end-to-end stuff… without anyone holding back? The saddest thing about this fearful approach is that it kills the players! It is like accelerating your car with the handbrake on. Manchester United are used to attacking football but now, with a highly qualified and experienced coach in Luis Van Gaal, even legends like Paul Scholes have turned against him because of the brand of football he wants The Red Devils to play. It is reminiscent of when Real Madrid got rid of José Mourinho following the supporters' disapproval of the defensive football he had the team playing.
Speaking of coaching, how do you explain a number of our most skilful players 'losing form' after just three or four games? What could possibly be the reason for that? How does a player lose form so quickly? Why are some of our stars – who started the season on a high note – now nowhere to be seen? It is all about the negative coaching which the players are subjected to! Instead of enhancing their attacking game, they are forced to play defensive football for fear of losing.
The excitement I have witnessed on social media since Baroka FC announced the capture of YouTube sensation Tshepo 'Skhwama Sama Tariyana' Matete further bears testimony to the hunger for creativity and flair in our Beautiful Game. It further highlights the lack of personalities in our game. That he went on to score on his debut will wet the supporters' taste buds even further and I wouldn't be surprised if he attracts hundreds of supporters to Baroka's games. This goes to show just how much the supporters miss being entertained! I was happy to hear his coach, Kgokolo Thobejane, speak so highly of the player and embrace his uniqueness. The fact that the boy only had one training session with the team before making his debut speaks volumes about the coach's confidence in him. We do have players like Skhwama in the PSL already but it looks like, while some coaches pretend to accept and publicly acknowledge the importance of entertainment, behind the scenes they preach a completely different message to their skilful players. The bottom line is that supporters need entertainment and no one will force them to go to the stadium to watch 11 players chasing after a ball for 90 minutes.
Imagine going to DJ Black Coffee's show and he doesn't play "We dance again". How do you think the crowd would react? If enough people called for the song, Coffee would definitely play it as a 'goodbye and thank you' at the end of the show. Why? Because he knows the importance of keeping the fans happy. More importantly, he knows that his career and wellbeing depends on those supporters. In SA soccer the question must be asked: is there anyone listening to the football supporters' cry for entertainment… does anyone even care?
Because teams don't rely on gate-takings to make money anymore, with the PSL grants and sponsorship deals making up most of their revenue, the supporters' value has plummeted over the years. Gone are the days where teams went out of their way to ensure the supporters were happy – I'm talking about the days when teams would go at each other knowing that the last 10-15 minutes was 'Showtime' where they'd keep the supporters on the edges of their seats. They did that in order to ensure that the supporters came back for the next game, as their salaries depended on it. But for the supporters nothing has changed – they know what they want and that is entertainment!
Cheers
VeeJay
