The
problem with the Premier Soccer League (PSL) is that there a lot of words and
promises of a brighter future, yet no governing body in total control.
What
does the South African Football Association (SAFA) do to remedy situations?
They change managers. We don’t believe that the players are at fault, we never
do, it is always the manager who lacks the skills to win tournaments; either he
is not motivating enough, or not tactically good enough. Before Gordon Igesund,
we continued to fail; we have failed also to address the players deficiencies
and those of the coaches in this country.
What
the German FA did was different; they looked at why their team failed and
believed there was not enough young players with the necessary quality to make
German national team great. So what did they do? They invested in youth
development, they implemented guidelines to the German teams that there must be
more work put into developing youth, that Germany must produce better quality
players.
It
is a great example of German efficiency; a plan was put in place and through
far sighted planning and co-operation between federation and clubs. A new
generation was produced. In the last decade, both the national team and
domestic clubs have benefited from an emphasis on youth development and
nurturing potential stars.
The
problem with the PSL is that there a lot of words and promises of a brighter
future, yet no governing body in total control of youth development. Too much
fighting between SAFA, PSL and First Division League has resulted in poor
management and planning that has restricted the development of a larger pool of
talented players. There is a short sightedness to the development model which
is restricting the long term development of players in the South Africa.
The
game is always changing, new tactics and new styles of players are making the
game faster and more tactical. Coaches need to adapt to these new changes in
order to keep up and players need to be developed to suit this ever evolving
game. Many people now want to play like Spain and Barcelona and of course this
is desirable as their football is excellent.
Spain’s
success has come from addressing the root issue. It involved improving and
educating coaches; educating them to expert level and having them go and work
in training centres around the country. This meant that there weren’t few teams
who benefitted, but every child. Through this, standards improved, players
developed more and after 20 years they have a successful national team and
football culture whose foundations were built on expert coaching.
In
our Academies the level of coaching is average, we require experts in order to
lay strong foundations for young players.
By Lucas Mogale
Tweet: @RhoooLu
