The reactions to Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos’ truths should be seen as new lows the local game has now sunk further down to.
Eight years ago, the same SAFA leadership that looks set to win the elections next week Friday, presented South Africa with a hyped-up Vision 2022 strategy. This was described by SAFA as a “fundamental rebuilding of the structures of SAFA at all levels to create the conditions that will bring about the sustained international success of our national teams.”
Among its goals, Vision 2022 aimed to:
- Establish grassroots football programmes to increase the fun element in the sport;
- Establish a strong school sport program
- Establishment of provincial, regional, local high performance centers
- Aspirational National Academy (SoE)
- Become the center of Elite Football Development for the African continent
- Become No. 1 in Africa at all age group levels
- Qualify for FIFA and continental competitions at all levels
The year is 2022 and instead of reviewing this leadership standing for re-election, we are discussing Broos, and not even what he said, but himself as a person, where he comes from, and how he must not dare talk bad of our football? Really? Is that what it has come down to now?
It was not Broos but SAFA who promised South Africa in 2014 that they would, by 2022, “qualify for FIFA and continental competitions at all levels” and “become No. 1 in Africa at all age-group levels.” Now, 2022 comes, and Broos tells he tried to sit down with U17, U20, and U23 coaches, and he was told those teams, which we were all told would now be “No.:1 in Africa”, have no permanent coaches and are completely inactive. And we want to say “Broos, shut up?”
Broos is the wrong topic!
Some 13 years ago, in conversation with former Kaizer Chiefs Development Coach, Farouk Khan, desperately trying to remain positive about the state of the game in the country, he noted, “At the moment, our football is rock bottom, but the good thing about being rock bottom is that you can’t go further down. You can only go sideways meaning you remain in the same position or go back up, but you can’t go further down.”
How wrong was he! He surely couldn’t have foreseen the new lows our football would still sink down to, judging by the reactions to Broos’ comments on the standard of the game in South Africa.
The standard of the game in the country took a wrong turn in the late 90s and the result of that was the national team that continued on a consistent downward spiral until, inevitably, started failing to even qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations in 2010, which is now a common failure. At the heart of all this was the indifferent leadership of football in South Africa rejecting every proposed intervention – from the local coaches, foreign coaches, local supporters, and all – to stop the rot.
No one could have foreseen an era where a section of South African supporters and officials alike, who have for years expressed their frustration at the level of denialism about the true state of the local game, would turn against someone who tells it like it is.
Just to recap what irked some South African football followers:
“I think it’s time now to face the real problem,” he said, which we should all agreed we are not right now!
“What is the real problem of South Africa? The real problem of South Africa is that we don’t have those quality players. We don’t have those players like our three last opponents, Ghana, France and Morocco, have. When you see those teams – Ghana, 90% of the players (play in) Europe. France, I don’t have to explain which players are playing in the team of France. All players are in big teams in Europe. But also Morocco, when you look at the selection of Morocco, there was only one player of the CAF Champions League winning-team Wydad Casablanca, and it was the goalkeeper. For the rest, there was no Champions League winners, no players. I think that shows enough. All those players are playing in great European teams, Fiorentina, Sevilla, PSG. We don’t have those quality players who are playing in Europe,” charged Broos as he was just warming up.
He continued, “Let’s face the problem of South Africa, and the problem is that the level of our PSL is not high enough. We don’t make players with high quality.”
…and all hell broke loose!
It was at this point that HE hit the trend lists on social media platforms and HE became the talking point on the radio and TV shows, newspaper columns, and rarely what he said was the issue.
Who is he to tell us our standard is low? He has no right! When did he realise that? That is not what we are paying him for! We are paying him to win the game! We are paying him to make it work!
The self-disrespect…
Broos is “DISREPECTFUL”, screamed Mamelodi Sundowns’ senior coach, Steve Khompela on Twitter.
Our nation is addressed with so much carelessness and lack of tact. It is disrespectful and to some it sounds like the “honest truth” but others the tone is just as condescending https://t.co/rAkp5bgT0t
— Steve Komphela (@komphelasteve) June 14, 2022
Disrespect, self-disrespect, is paying a national team coach R750 000 a month when the national team is not playing every month, and you want to gag them when they point out important truths about the state of the local game, to at least earn their salary. R750 000 a month to keep quiet?
Perhaps people don’t understand where Broos is coming from.
He comes from Belgium – a country that invested in a turnaround strategy of no ego-nursing and turned Belgium into a force to be reckoned with in world football.
In an interview with the Daily Mail’s Stephen McGowan, Belgian Football Manager, Michel Sablon, said, ‘‘We made a brochure. It was more of a book, in fact. We had a whole group of people around a table in the technical department and we decided to make a plan for three target groups. First of all was the clubs, secondly the national team and third the coaches of the schools. So, we adopted the same vision for all three groups. We went to the clubs and asked them to play a certain way below under-18 levels. We asked them to play 4-3-3 with wingers and three midfielders and a flat back four. In the old days, it was always a flat back three, so this was brand new to them. It took more than five or six years before everyone could bring themselves to accept it.”
This is where Broos comes from. He understands the importance of a proper technical turnaround strategy, which begins with being honest about the reality and calling a spade a spade. With a little bit of research, one would understand why Broos would not mince his words and from a very decisive football leadership that does not lose sight of the product on the field of play – not investing in better politics, PR strategies, and calling media houses trying to silence football journalists that call out the rot.
And again, the irony of it all is South Africans going to the jugular against Broos in 2022 – the year of the failed Vision 2022, a week before the same leadership stands to be re-elected.
The abnormal world…
In a normal world, how the three SAFA presidential candidates, incumbent, Danny Jordaan, Ria Ledwaba and Ngwako “Solly” Mohlabeng respond to Broos’ scathing but necessary remarks was supposed to be key leading up to the elections next week Friday.
However, Ledwaba and Mohlabeng are yet to engage what Broos has put on the table and tell us how they would ensure that the U17, U20, and U23 have permanent coaches, how a proper technical vision would be adopted and implemented, how they would mend the relationship between the PSL and SAFA if elected and how they would, among others, get all the 32 teams in the first and the second division, to adopt a national playing philosophy to support national teams at all levels. No one and yet they expect to be elected and entrusted with the leadership of this sinking ship.
What Jordaan said is that he would engage Broos as he felt such issues needed to be dealt with “organisationally.”
The truth is Broos’ comments de-campaign Jordaan a week before the elections. Broos is telling us that things are not at all looking good under the current leadership that seeks to be re-elected. The question is, should Jordaan be trying to ensure such truths are not said in public as Broos did or be telling South Africa how they plan to correct the failures? But that is a question you ask in a normal world, not ours!
The wrong topic of discussion a week before SAFA elections…
Now, in 2022 – the year of Vision 2022’s supposed fruition – and a week before SAFA elections, are we really going to discuss Broos and not even the content of comments? Are we not going to ask how come the leadership that has not appointed permanent junior national team coaches, and oversees inactive national teams, finds it okay to pay R20.8 million in honorarium to NEC members? So much investment in the politics of the game over the game itself should worry us! Is Broos really the topic we should be having?
The truth is South Africa is stuck with a leadership that has failed to deliver on its own 2014 promises, and statutes are changed all the time to keep the status quo and South Africans can’t do much about it. The least we can do is to encourage the likes of Broos to call a spade a spade in the hope that something one day will give.
After all, he is not telling us something that has not been said before. Pitso Mosimane in 2012, said: You see, (in) South Africa, we don’t want to accept reality – things have not been going well for us since we won the 1996 Afcon, but we are not changing the formula. We have a problem, but you are going the same way; we must do things right in terms of our development programmes. We don’t want to accept that the world is catching up with us. We don’t want to accept that we are not scoring goals. We don’t want to accept that our development programmes are not good.”
We have not moved an inch since!
Carlos Alberto-Parreira, in 2014 and not for the first time, said, “If you don’t build the infrastructure, you won’t have a bright future at all. You have to bring in players from a very young age to give them quality, to teach them and to develop them. Then you will have a lot of players, and if you have quantity it will be easier to pick up the quality. Also, coach the coaches. Give them their licenses, and the quality of football in the country will be much better.”
Ted Dumitru (may his soul rest in peace) died preaching this gospel and yet we have not moved an inch!
Urgent need for a technical symposium, not re-election…
Once again, what happened this past week, again shows, what South Africa needs is not re-elections, but a technical symposium on an urgent basis to draft and adopt a national technical policy.
A cohesive detailed national technical policy, designed by a diverse group of experts should include criteria for appointing, not only, technical staff to national teams at all levels, but also strict guidelines on the appointment of all other support and medical staff.
This technical policy should also provide guidelines and a framework on how and why coaches select players for the various national teams – all in line with the long-term vision and performance objectives of the South African Football Association and the country.
If all these and more can be done and South Africa would realise its full potential.
But we cannot gag Broos unless it is because we are used to this mediocrity and that he is telling us nothing new.
Yes, the PSL standards are poor and we are failing to produce quality players and the two entities are not going to have this conversation because they don’t drink from the same cup. In most successful nations every season there are at least two workshops with all professional coaches to recommend and target minimal technical standards for professional football.
Have a great June 16 commemoration as we remember the youth that stood up against what was wrong, fought, and died for what was right – as you think Broos is the problem!
By Sipho ‘King K’ Kekana @KingKAzania
