Soccer Laduma Blog By Clint Roper
Soccer Laduma Blog By Clint Roper
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us..." So starts the famous novel by Charles Dickens, written in 1859, but so relevant today as we head into another season of South African soccer. It is the best of times because South Africans love their soccer and love their league; because a new season automatically gives hope that things can be better; because a new Bafana coach creates the facade that something different will happen with our national team and that success might be the by-product of change. It is an age of belief that we are on the right track, and that 2018 will be our year to shine. But then one looks at the most recent Soweto derby – the one game that actually allows South African soccer to shine before the football world – and one realises the extent of the darkness into which South African soccer has sunk. Being in the amazing position where I 'have to' watch South African soccer for my job, there were times last season where I found myself bored to death, uninspired and watching the game clock in the top corner of my TV screen, or the scoreboard at a stadium, wishing away the minutes and seconds of games, just so that the game would end. People say that the reason PSL stadiums are empty is because the league has become a TV league. I'm not so sure. I would go as far as to say that our league has, at best, become a highlights package. There are moments in a 90 minute PSL game that are world class – a goal from 40 yards out, a crunching tackle, a shibobo, a no-look pass… Those moments condensed into a two minute YouTube clip would have you thinking that our league is up there with the best in the world. But when you watch the full 90 minutes, when you watch what happens in the moments between the moments of brilliance, you realise why South African soccer is where it is. What South African soccer fans have to endure is the constant, appalling loss of possession, the inability to put in a quality cross at the end of a flowing move and the completely amateurish approach to finishing inside the 18-yard area. I can watch an entire English Premier League game and thoroughly enjoy every moment of it… and it doesn't even have to be the top two teams in the league. It's not that the EPL highlights reel is any better than the PSL game, because actually I see South African players doing things with the ball that nobody else in the world can do. It's that every other facet of the English game is professional. There is a sense of urgency to keep the ball; a sense of pride in delivering the perfect cross. There is an 'originality' to the British game, a maintaining of the culture that sees it recognised as one of the best leagues in the world. No matter if the coach is British, French or Italian, you can see the original traits of British football throughout the league – a high-paced, very physical approach to the game where a culture of excellence in 'doing things right' permeates – are maintained. But maybe what is most refreshing about leagues like the EPL, like La Liga or like the Bundesliga is that the teams, for the most part, go out on the field to win as well as give their fans a show. For the most part not only is it about the win, it's also about the 'way' in which games are won. In these leagues, it seems there is not a single player or coach who plays or coaches the game from the default setting of fear. In the PSL it seems, for the most part based on what we see week in and week out, the joy of winning is being coached out of our players and the fear of losing is being coached into them. South African soccer at its best was original. That's when we were golden; when we were encouraged to shine and to revel in our unique skill-set on a football pitch. Archaic, enforced philosophies that don't fit our players will never allow us to shine. At best, it might make us slightly more competent, but it will never make us truly competitive at the highest level. And yet we expect a national team coach to take these same players, who play out of fear each and every week, and ask them to stand as equals in international competition against players from countries that are taught to play from a place of passion and pride. Unless PSL clubs start providing top-level coaching to young players coming through the ranks, and until PSL clubs start demanding that the playing style of their club should be in line with the unique strengths and characteristics of the South African player, South African football will continue to fail. Unless we find our 'originality', and encourage and nurture our own excellence at club level, while it may seem that we have everything before us, the truth is, we have nothing before us and are wandering in a perpetual "season of Darkness". Shapa, Clint Click Here To Watch The Editors Column
