When I started this blog, little did I know that my first two posts would largely be based on soccer, or football as the mud-islanders call it. In truth I’ve been working on a paper regarding how emotional intelligence translates into a group or team (sport or business), and how it can make average Joe’s successful and make the already successful teams into world beaters. But it requires quite a bit of research and reading, something that has not been a priority of mine since the world cup party started! So bear with me… I’ll get there.
In the meantime, I’ve decided to have a little say on what we as South Africans can do after the world cup to somehow assist SAFA in developing the game in our country and turn our clubs and players into true world beaters. Look, I’m not going to pretend I know how to run the game in this country, or any country for that matter. But I can comment on what we as everyday people and soccer fans can do to assist SAFA. The answer is quite simple, support.
Any successful professional team across all sporting codes will tell you that the secret to long term sustainable success is grass roots development. The word sustainable is a very important one, because anyone can put together a team of superstars overnight and be successful in the short term (something we hoped the appointment of Parreira as Bafana coach would do). But to be able to maintain that success and build a legacy requires a massive investment in the youth and the development of players. That means high performance centers and youth academies beginning at a very young age, not just U/19 level. If you don’t believe me, just have a look at Manchester United, or any English premier league club for that matter. Another great example is the Bulls rugby team, as much as I dislike them and their IQ-challenged supporters, you’ve got to hand it to them, they are pretty damn good. But people forget that in 2002 they lost all 11 of their Super 12 league games, making them the worst team in Super rugby history (that is until their brothers south of the Jukskei decided to eclipse that and lose 13 on the trot this year. Well done Lions.) To change the order of things the Bulls focused on a massive junior player development, fast forward a few years, and the Bulls are the undisputed champs of Super Rugby.
Sounds simple enough you might say, but it doesn’t help putting these systems and structure in place and doing it half-heartedly. You need to do it properly, and to do that you need money. And this is where we as fans come in. I’m not talking about donations, I’m talking about support. Think about how much money you’ve spent on kits for overseas teams, match tickets, trip overseas to watch them play… Isn’t it time that we as South Africans started developing our own talent as opposed to overseas talent? Although I realize that in the case of the England team it hasn’t helped! I think everyone agrees that the natural talent in this country is immense, now imagine the heights we could scale if our clubs had the finances of overseas clubs? Granted those finances would have to be managed properly, but that’s a whole other discussion.
A few of my mates and I (and this wasn’t even my idea, so I’m feeling proud!) have decided that in order to do our part, we each have to choose a team in the local PSL, and attend at least one of their games per month. Add to that the merchandise sales, and perhaps we can be the start of something. I’m not even a soccer fan and I’m going to do this, surely people who love the game could the do the same? It makes me sick to think we’ve been lining the pockets of these over paid prima donna nancy boys overseas and have totally ignored our local leagues and players. It’s time that changes, and that change begins with us. Give it a bash. You never know, 8 years from now we could be celebrating a World Cup Final involving Bafana Bafana. With our support, it could happen. Let's start building the legacy...
Catch ya’ll on the flipside…
Dazz
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