In
1966 well known Italian movie titled “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.”,
authored by Leone Luciano Vincenzoni, and was made. The film depicts the
different actions of different people in a situation. This name can serve as a
metaphor for the situation in football today.
The Good:
In
terms of attendance, SA’s fans have never disappointed when hosting
international events, despite enjoying little success on the pitch. They
recently set a benchmark during the 26th edition of AFCON when they recorded a
remarkable 729 000 crowd attendance. Also, during the World Cup 2010, Friday
was declared a Bafana Bafana day and the public responded positively to the
clarion call. Without them there is no celebrity status for the players,
members of the media or football administrators. They are the heart and soul of
the game or succinctly, custodians of it. On a good day, they can be an
anonymous player (12th man) on the pitch and can spur their team on to rise
from an unlikely situation.
The Bad:
Booing
at its best can only serve two purposes: to demoralize the morale of the
players and most hurtfully, to destroy their careers. One incident that springs
to mind is that of former Mamelodi Sundowns and Banyana Banyana mentor, Augustine
“Mthakathi” Makalakalani. A very talented footballer by any measure, but he
endured a torrid time with the fans during the AFCON 96 and that brought his
international career to an instant halt. Siyabonga Nkosi, Mandla Masango, Bongani Ndulula, and Teko Modise to mention but a few are some of the players who have been
subjected to this infamous action. Clubs, The Federations, and the media must
join hands to combat this syndrome. It is high time that the Premier Soccer League (PSL) make full use
of video technology in order to nail the perpetrators.
The Ugly -
Refereeing:
It
is an accepted fact that referees are human beings and bound to make mistakes,
but at present, our game is suffering from lack of competency rather than human
nature. Why SAFA/PSL continue to recycle incompetent referees is beyond
comprehension. It is no longer a choice but compulsory for the two soccer
powerhouses to appoint a referees’ review committee to redress the situation
before ‘the ides of March’. Now that FIFA have approved goal line technology
and other leagues have already made plans to implement it next season, one can
hardly wait for the PSL to follow suit and to avoid the recurrences of The
Telkom Cup Final between Sundowns and Celtic and many other similar events.
A
fair argument is that almost all aspects of the game have become professional
but nothing has been done to turn refereeing into a profession. The current
framework exposes the middle man to all sorts of temptations because their
livelihood is dependent on 90 minutes.
Coaches:
It
is an open secret that football is a game of emotions and people can sometimes
say things they do not literally mean in the heat of the moment. Unfortunately,
the laws of the game are very clear and do not condone such conduct. Our
coaches have resorted to derogatory remarks to express their dissatisfaction on
national television but nothing has been done to deal with the culprits. The
image of our league has been tainted enough and the spirit of sportsmanship or
FIFA fair play has been compromised.
Unruly behavior and
lack of adequate security
The
situation looks very simple from an observation and rhetorical point of view,
but it is very complex and profound in nature. The recent crowd behavior
resembles the true reflection of our society (values and morals) and the issue
needs to be addressed calmly and with clear minds. It is not this reporter’s
ambition to remind the readers that the FNB stadium was seriously disrupted by
angry fans and there was of course, the “Ellis Park Massacre”. The big question
is how did these happen in front of the police and security personnel?
How
many more lives must be lost before we see or accept that the lack of well
trained and adequate security in our game is a matter of principle, priority,
life or death? To start with, people (security and police) who are charged with
the responsibility to safeguard our lives, to maintain law and order, do not
meet the minimum safety requirements. They do not wear helmets or face shields
to protect their own lives. Therefore, it defies logic to expect them to
withstand crowd violence and dangerous objects hurled by the fans. Perpetrators
should be expelled from the game, and where possible teams must be docked
points. A life lost cannot be equated with a fine or an escape route: a
“commission of inquiry”! It might not make sense now since the league is faced
with the problem of crowd attendance, but it will benefit the game in the long
run.
Security
is an important feature of any institution and therefore, it can’t be left to
chance. Strict measures must be put in place to ensure the safety of all the
stakeholders.
By Bongani Gadlela
