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| Photograph by Zweli Ndhlovu |
The previous month we
celebrated youth month in a variety of ways, as a nation we look back at what
the class of ’76 did and how we benefit from their sacrifice, we looked at what
the current crop of youth and see how they measure up. This got me wondering
about the era of that period and the era that followed after till now.
The legends of that era are
probably the most famous legends we acknowledge today, Shakes Mashaba, Teenage
Dladla, Jomo Sono, Ace. The list can go on, this generation of legends we use
as reference when talking about how South Africa should play.
Through the years tournaments
and leagues like Chappies league, Kay Motsepe cup, Investec league, Copa Coa Cola,
Milo champions tournament, Danone Nations cup, Metropolitan tournament, Future
stars, Bayhill tournament, Engen Knockout etc. have bred some of the best stars
our football knows today, they continue to be the breeding ground for the
future talents.
If you have been to any of
these tournaments then you will have one or two stories of players you had seen
there that are in the PSL right now which is wonderful. But we have a lot more
stories where a player is on fire in a tournament and looks the part that we
soccer lovers are always in search of either for our teams or national team,
and you expect him to do good when he gets there, only to hear a coach in the
big leagues say that player is not ready.
Have we looked at our legends
so much that we o not believe in the current talent that is in front of us? Or
has the talent in the years degraded to the point that we have no choice but to
look at what the past brought us?
Guess what I am wondering is whether the talent pool has decreased or have we been looking back so much we are neglecting the present.
