Welcome back beloved

For all the suspense, heartache and jubilation you put us through. We missed you.

For all the debates, arguments and conversations you spark. We missed you.

For the oohs, aahs and almosts you give us. We missed you.

For all the yellow and red cards. We missed you.

For all the right calls, wrongs calls and close calls. We missed you.

For all the good goals, bad goals and own goals. We missed you.

For all the offsides, dives and no goals. We missed you.

For all the Mike Dean antics. We missed you.

For coaches tantrums, Bench sulking. We missed you.

For all the transfer rumours and speculations. We missed you.

For all the parked buses, all out attacks and kitchen sink throwing. We missed you.

For all the big teams, small teams and new teams. We missed you.

For all the brilliant tactics, insightful analysis and funny commentary. We missed you.

For all the post-match comments. We missed you.

For all the skills, tackling and techniques. We missed you.

For all the penalties, Free kicks and saves. We missed you.

For all the days you weren’t here in the off season. We missed you.

Welcome back beloved football.

Love The Game Right

Photo by Zwelizwe Ndlhovu

In the many stories I have heard of township soccer, two stories stick out for me at this point. First was the story of the coach who made it a tendency to walk into the field and start slapping the referee when his team started losing by quite a margin. The second was this team that had supporters that would threaten to beat up the referee after the game of their team did not win.

Granted that this violence was less team performance more a referee aimed. It shows a problem that goes beyond professional football. This is not the first incident we have seen where this happen or the last.  Even internationally there has been violence in professional games.

Which begs the question, why do we get violent for the game we say we love?

We say we love this beautiful game, we have a passion for it that is almost unparalleled. We’ve seen people get overjoyed by the feeling of watching their favourite player do his magic on the field, clapped hands when a wonderful goal has been scored (even if it is against your own team). I mean this sport is called the beautiful game because of the all-round feeling it gave not only the beauty it displayed on the field. And violence has never been beautiful.

So when we get violent in the game we say we have a passion for, where does this passion come from?

Does it come from a place of genuinely loving the sport or is it more hatred of seeing anyone that is not your team doing better than you. A loss should leave us disappointed not angry, if anger and violence are the result of the passion for the game. We need to re-examine how we love this beautiful game.

Surely we cannot say we love this game if we keep doing things that harm the game?

And it is not just on the pitch, soccer lovers are some of the most vile, homophobic, abusive people in sports. Ever read the insults when a team is not playing well? Supporters of the beautiful game are some of the nastiest people when things do not go their way. Soccer fans either want to leave you scarred physically or mentally.

South African soccer already suffers from low attendance already, the acts that we as fans confine to show each season does nothing but hurt the game, the beautiful game.

This is not healthy for our sport. I think it is time to re-examine our we love this sports and it's magicians.

Ballet for the Masses

Photograph by Zwelizwe Ndhlovu

As they say around my areas, Ke Dezember boss. This is the time where we will see the annual showcase of talent that PSL scouts have ignored for years exhibit their forgotten but incredible talents (we’ll discuss this later).

This is also the time where we see our beloved PSL stars returned to their roots and participate in a tournament. These stars risk an injury that can harm their careers and possibly end it just to play in these tournaments. But why? They surely do not get as much money from theses annual tournaments, so it must be for some other reason.

While sitting with colleagues we had this discussion and came up with a couple of reasons.

Groupies

When our PSL players return to grassroots soccer they return as heroes. They get lots of love (and hate from those who never made it) from ladies. With Soccer players having reputations of  being players (excuse the pun) it is quite understandable why one would think that.

Freedom

How many times have you heard Mushin say he has no problem with showboating as long as you use it positively? Well, it is called showboating for a reason and that is to show off skills that have nothing to do with going forward but are there just to drive the crowd wild. Grassroots soccer gives the players that freedom that professional levels do not really allow.

Crowd

Let’s face it, Kasi tournament crowds are the liveliest crowds you will find in this country!  And the biggest crowds you will probably play in front of in this country unless you play for Chiefs or Pirates.

Giving back

Grassroots tournaments are where most of our players came up and they feel that they need to remind people of where they come from so that no one thinks that they have sold out to European football and have forgotten our very own style here in Mzansi. In a way, they have danced in the big stages of the country and the world but sometimes they want to come back to their beginnings and just do one ballet for the masses.

Analyse This

Photograph by Zweli Ndhlovu

They wear suits that make you think what is about to come is some really insightful stuff.

You know the suit, dark colour with a light shirt and bright tie. They carry a tablet or a piece of paper with all the stats that they need for their argument. Some of the more experienced ones have their stats memorised already. They use all the trending football talk terms like transition, false nine, high line.

They usually have credibility to their name like “Former coach of XXX”, “journalist for the biggest sports publication in the country”, “legendary defender”, “Won the what-what cup in 1998”, “former club captain”, “XXX clean sheets” and “XXX goals for club and country”. Their bio is something you cannot deny. They have been in the game long enough that their opinion of the game gets the fans attention.

But why do I find myself disagreeing with some of the points they talk about, especially when they talk about defensive or offensive mistakes? You would hear how a striker should have hit the ball or hear what a defender did wrong in the conceding of the goal.

It seems to me they always try to find a fault in every move. A spectacular save will get the honourable mention “Credit to the keeper, but the striker should have….” Giving an impression of the keepers’ efforts is only good because the shot was worse.

Sometimes I am not sure if they analyse or just criticising mistakes made by players. The same mistakes they used to make during their playing days. Let’s Analyse that.

A Star Is Born

Photograph by Zweli Ndlhovu

Let’s start with congratulations to Ka Bo Yellow, bafana ba style, the Brazilians, Mamelodi Sundowns for winning the CAF champions league (cue boos from Mandela cup winners). They endured tough away trips in order to win this and even though some football fans will refer to their backdoor entry, they still had to play to win plus record books will only say 2016 CAF champions league winners not backdoor entrants. Finally another South African club has the sought after star!

In South Africa we usually think it represents continental trophies and World cups; we never think that a club can put a star for an amazing achievement like winning the league 5 times or winning a continental trophy that is not the CAF champions league (cue relief for Mandela cup winners).

According to Wikipedia the first club to introduce the star in their badge was the old lady, Juventus in 1958 to signify their tenth league title. Who would’ve thought that a trend would start that would ultimately be the ambition for almost every club in the world. The star symbolises a tremendous achievement by a club. This can range from milestone years by a club to milestone league trophy wins or a continental even world achievement.

With that said, I have come to realise that the star represents an achievement that should be celebrated, not having one does not mean the club is lacking or is not a big club on the continent (cue cheers for Mandela cup winners).

I hope the achievement of Sundowns gives current and future PSL clubs ambition to try etching their name on African football history pages. Lord knows local players need to realise there are bigger achievements to aim for on the continent. And that competing across the continent will make them better players.

Good luck! to Sundowns when they face the like of Real Madrid, Club America, Aukland City and Atletico Nacional in the club world cup December. Go show the world why South Africans think so highly of themselves when it comes to the beautiful game.

Let’s Talk Refs pt. II

Photograph by Zweli Ndhlovu

The past weekend was full of wonderful football and high scores both domestically and internationally. As with every week questionable decisions were made that had both the analysts and the fans debating whether it was the correct decision or not. No agreement is ever reached by the debaters but they are never on the refs’ side.

The toughest job in football has to be the referee’s job, closely followed by the coaches’ job of course. Think about it, the referee is the only person that is hated by all sides in a match, both teams hate the referee, the supporters would like to get their hands on the referee. Analysts, commentators and journalists will never miss the chance to highlight how the referee ruined the game for both teams and how incompetent the standard of referring was. There seems to be no getting away for the referee no matter what corner they turn on.

Refereeing is basically mediating between two parties that want their way and that on its own is a leadership position, guess that explains why a lot of our referees are also in the education sector, a sector that needs both leaders and mediators. So I compiled a couple of things that a referee should keep in mind as mediating leaders. 

I learnt this when my father was speaking at a leadership training on some other weekend. Some referees show these qualities I have to say.

Facing their fears

Referees often avoid punishing an opponent because they are afraid of ruining the game. That fear has led to some decisions that have affected the games result and that ruins games on its own. As referees they have to face these kinds of fears if they want to carry out a fair game.

Be prepared to be hated

Coaches are only hated when they lose, referees are never liked by anyone. As a referee some decisions taken will not be popular and people will be saying a lot of things your way and fans will boo you, coaches will scream at you. Analysts will be speaking like you told them what you were thinking. Basically you will be disliked more than Jacob Zuma in parliament.

Be comfortable with discomfort

As I said earlier, no one seems to be on the referees’ side, when it is match day. Referees have to be prepared to be an island, Isolated, alone and no one coming to their rescue. Waves of hate and questions can come from any side. As a referee, you must get used to uncomfortable situations as they keep you on your toes. Referees that are never prepared to be uncomfortable are the ones that look flustered when things take a turn in the game.

 Accept vulnerability

Referees are always at the mercy of someone, their decisions get questioned by everyone internally in their boards to people who hardly know the rules of the game. They are vulnerable to the people that pay to watch the sport and those that report it. They will always have to answer to someone not happy about their decisions. They have to accept that and be fine with it and not try to use the game to minimize their vulnerability.

Let’s Talk Refs

Photograph by Zweli Ndlhovu

I was listening to a passenger in a taxi bemoaning what a certain referees in the PSL was officiating the game.

This got me thinking of amateur referees and how games are judged there. Usually the referee would be a guy that came to support one of the teams or a passer-by that is not in a rush.

The chances of the games being refereed fair depended on how well the middle man knew both teams and how intimidated he is by them. Yes, the most unfair games are the ones where the middle man is intimidated. You see him officiating from the corner flag so that he has a quick escape in case they are unhappy.

And with just cause! We all have stories of coaches, fans and even players attacking the middle man for decision they do not agree with. Go to any tournament, there is always the incident where the crowd was baying for the referee’s blood.

Guess the PSL referees should be thankful that they are protected.