Last week’s column about the young Cape Town Spurs striker, Luke Baartman, lends itself to this week’s topic, which is about the need for superstars to shake things up in South African football. There is an ongoing level of desperation that continues to plague our domestic football whenever there are games taking place. The way we are so hungry for new, breath-taking and young talent, superstars or poster boys, we continue to desperately look and try to find them everywhere there is action. Truth be told, it has been a long time since we’ve had new talent that takes our football by storm.
The fact that people still remember and celebrate the likes of Doctor Khumalo, Lucas Radebe, Tebogo Moloi, Joseph Makhanya, Lebohang Mokoena, the late Gift Leremi, Scara Ngobese, Mbulelo Mabizela, Teko Modise, Jabu Pule (Mahlangu), Daine Klate, Siphiwe Tshabalala, Surprise Moriri and many other entertainers and match-winners who could literally turn the game on its head for their respective teams, says a lot about the current state of affairs. These are players who always stole the show and left the supporters either heartbroken or rejoicing, depending on which side of the fence they were on. These are some of the players who were poster boys of South African football and their mere presence excited everyone because, whether you supported them or were opposed to their team, they evoked an emotion one way or the other.
These are players you just couldn’t ignore, let alone write off. Proof to that is the fact that, long after their retirement, people still talk about them and you’d hear passionate supporters teasing each other’s teams about incidents that involved these players. Because of their impact, it comes as no surprise to hear of guys older than these former players named after them. Such was their impact that even younger players relate to them more so than most of the current crop of players. We’ve not had a ‘Jabu Pule’ in a long time because we lack consistency in our game and, as much as the game continues to evolve, this is one of the missing elements in our football. This is why the supporters continuously try to hype every promising player and put them on a pedestal, only for the reality to finally sink in that the player was actually not who they thought he was.
