De Kock, the new force Proteas want

Talk of the town. . . The talented Quinton de Kock is not part of the SA Test team against India and yet he is the talking point.

The whispers and groans about Quinton de Kock continued at the Wanderers where the first Test between South Africa and India began without glitches earlier today. The Proteas took  two early wickets as the visitors bagged 70 runs at lunch.
As was the case in the run-up to the match, the absence of the young run machine De Kock continued to rub South Africa's cricket fans in different ways. While there are those confessing understanding for the reasons De Kock was excluded from the Test team after a memorable showing in the ODI series against selfsame, others feel they were shortchanged.

The talk about De Kock being young and inexperienced at this level of the game is not far-fetched. Though I don't have a fiery quarrel against this sentiment, I do not, at the same time, support it. The paying fans at the stadium, more so this time of the year, want to be thrilled. They want to be excited, and De Kock is right now the object of the stadium fun for the fans.

Yes, he's inexperienced but where was this when he blasted away India with three fine 100s in three one-day matches? Does this batsman sound like someone who needs protection? What harm would playing in two Test matches in familiar surroundings do this novice?

Too many questions and arguments, but the bottomline is that the risk factor to play De Kock in the two Tests against India was minimal. If it was high risk, as the selectors thought, then the dividends could have paid back far better from the youngster's exploits. The fans were indeed shortchanged because the excitement they want in the stadium is provided by such bravehearts, more so a young and unblemished one such as Quinton, who turned 21 only yesterday.

One of his few detractors around is India bowler Ishant Sharma, who was quoted saying: "Quinton de Kock has been quite lucky." If that's the case then this is the man any team would be happy to have, more so that he offers a lot more in one: wicketkeeping and excellent fielding. Clearly there can never be any wrong with a dose of luck in any game.

Senior SA players such as captain Graeme Smith, Alviro Petersen, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers remain reliable match winners with the bat. But you can't falter the people for wanting a new hero. De Kock's time will surely come but at this stage his omission is a lost opportunity. Borrowing from Sharma's observation, De Kock could be the new luck the Proteas need.

Khune has got it made

Spain was a godsend for Itumeleng Khune. Just two days after his controversial naming as the Sports Star of the Year at the SA Sports Awards, South Africa's No.1 goalkeeper and national captain showed why he is the people's choice as the most admired sportsman in the country. He dished up man-of-the-match performance whose fame reverberated all over Spain and the world beyond as the world champions succumbed to Bafana. It was a friendly, all right, but Spain were here to win.

Parker's world class did the magic while Khune's heroics secured the win for SA.

So what was the controversy with him winning the Sports Star award, with its R1million plus luxury? Khune in the past year did not achieve more than several other sports stars in arenas home and abroad. His club Kaizer Chiefs won the league-cup double. But as far as international competition is concerned, Khune did not get any look in both as Chiefs and Bafana player because there is no success that can be linked to him from that sphere. Therein lies the rub. When the category of Sports Star of the Year was introduced to the SA Sports Awards a few years ago, nomination criterion pointed to success on the international front. 

This does not mean winning in Spain or the US, but outperforming the best in the world in your sport event even if that happened in Garankuwa or Griekwastad.

Chiefs did not play in any international competition in the past year, while Bafana's participation was marked by monumental failures in Cup of Nations finals and World Cup qualifiers. Khune as a result was wrongfully nominated for this award. The public and other journos pointed out this discrepancy when nomination was confirmed, but the organisers, the Sports Department, ignored this protest.

The public vote decides the winner here, and Khune prevailed. Congratulations to him; he's an excellent sportsman, but not the top star for SA in the past year. On Tuesday night the masses marvelled at Khune's goalkeeping skills again, and you cannot blame them thinking the Ventersdorp-born is the best of the best. They don't know much about the exploits of other nominees, notably swimmer Chad le Clos, because his multiple world record feats they did not see. It all happened on channels the majority have no access to. Even families of DStv Compact clients did not see Le Clos matching the achievement of the biggest Olympic champion of all time, Michael Phelps. This happened in Barcelona in August, during the Swimming World Championships. He rounded off a great season with more victories and world records in the World Cup series earlier this month.

In conclusion, Khune is more visible to the voting masses, while Le Clos international victories are known by a very few in South Africa, and that was reflected Sunday night at Sun City. Tuesday night President Zuma and former president Thabo Mbeki walked into the changeroom to congratulate Khune and his boys for a job well done against Spain. Who can beat that?

Verdict: Let athletes who earned international glory be nominees for Sports Star category. Others can be nominated in the regular Sportsman or Sportswoman of the Year.

For heaven's sake, just let the girls play

Valuable play time. . . Girls should enjoy playing netball and other sports without any hindrance.

When the Currie Cup final between Western Province and Sharks and the Soweto Derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates hogged the headlines last week, a new sporting feat for South Africa happened with very little attention being paid to it. The national netball team, the Proteas, where in action in Port Elizabeth, in a series featuring Trinidad-and-Tobago and old nemesis England.

After losing 39-49 to England in an earlier match in the series, the Proteas on Friday brought the curtain down on the proceedings with a hard-fought 39-37 victory over England to clinch the tournament.

This was SA's first victory over highly ranked England in 14 years, and that the feat went unnoticed by most of the public clearly indicate the predicament netball and women's sports in general are facing in South Africa. This indicates the depth to which women's games have fallen, despite the netball series at the Nelson Mandela Bay University being covered live on SuperSport.

It was a commendable gesture by the channel, but their effort could not be accessed by the masses to whom the sport of netball belongs. This is the biggest female sport in the country and its activities should be pushed at all times onto the public domain through all media forms, including radio.

The series in Port Elizabeth, and the subsequent one, the Diamond Challenge, which features Zimbabwe and Zambia against a second-string Proteas side, are geared towards preparing the national team for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. The objective of this mission is not to afford SA the opportunity to qualify for the Olympics, but advance awareness and development ideals of netball in the country. So far, the progress of the Proteas and the development of the game at grassroots level are not in sync.

Netball will be making its Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro, but this good news is generally unknown by the masses and it is also coming at the time netball is no longer visible in the communities.  I have not seen girls play netball in Tembisa or Standerton in recent times. All the venues where the game was played vigorously during my childhood are devoid of any action. 

The townships have become hostile to girls who want to pursue sport. Even a mere exercise of jogging is burdensome on girls and young women in the townships, thanks to nasty remarks and direct harassment from males. Boys are not absolved from this menace, as can be seen by the antagonistic bunch who have taken over the multi-sports courts outside the Mehlareng Stadium in Tembisa - just to hangout.

Judging by responses from colleagues, these chauvinistic behaviour prevails in other areas and has rendered girls in black communities a population with no access to sport. This calls for work to return netball and other sports to the people, more so women. The biggest effort in the community should involve men, including those in law enforcement, so that the girls can feel the appreciation and protection of their menfolk, in their effort to play sport in their own areas.

Unless this is done as a matter of urgency, the Olympic debut by netball in 2016 will remain unknown good news for girls and communities at large in South Africa, which a week later, still not privy to the victory of the Proteas over England.

World Cup glory beckons for Pirates

Aiming high. . . Orlando Pirates sextet of Oupa Manyisa, Thabo Matlaba, Happy Jele, Rooi Mahamutsa, Sfiso Myeni and Andile Jali will be most glad to play in the Fifa Club World Cup in December. 

ONE crucial factor the soccer public in South Africa is overlooking about Orlando Pirates' potential success in the CAF Champions League is that the reward is bigger than the $1.5million (R15m) first prize, or the much-vaunted "Second Star". The ultimate prize however for Pirates winning the Africa championship will be the chance to play in the Fifa Club World Cup in December.

The Fifa tournament is the lofty heights of club football. It was not existant in 1995 when Pirates were crowned Africa champion. After a modest beginnings in 2000 in Brazil, today the Fifa Club World Cup is a prestigeous one-week tournament offering big financial rewards to the qualifying continental champions. The top prize comes at a hefty $5 million, but even finishing last - seventh - is not shabby: $500 000 for just one lost game!

To date only one club from sub-Saharan Africa has played in the Fifa tournament, TP Mazembe of DR Congo, twice in 2009 and 2010. All the other occasions Africa had been represented by clubs from the Arab north, who have dominated Africa's club championship  for decades.

Al Ahly, 2013 Champions League finalists against Pirates, played in the 2012 Fifa Club World Cup, and Esperance of Tunis a year earlier. Most of SA football fraternity had been in ignorant about this tournament as no club from these had even come close to qualifying for until now. All Pirates have to do is to overcome Al Ahly challenge and have first-time experience  of meeting top international clubs in an official match. Perhaps this will help local fans not to go overboard with excitement over PSL teams meeting visiting English clubs in their pre-season kickabouts.  

Making it to the Fifa finals will open a whole new world to Orlando Pirates, something  Al Ahly has experienced four times before in this tournament. Additional attraction to the 2013 edition from the African perspective is the fact that the tournament will be hosted on the continent for the first time ever - in Morocco.

Apart from CAF, Asia is still to conclude its competition to produce a representative. But so far the line-up is delightful enough: Bayern Munich (Germany, Uefa), Monterrey (Mexico, Concacaf), Atletico Mineiro (Brazil, Conmebol) and Auckland City (New Zealand, OFC). As per tradition, the seventh team is the national champion of the host country, Raja Casablanca.
The tournament will run from December 11-21 in the cities of Marrakesh and Agadir. If they win the CAF event, Orlando Pirates will open their 2013 Fifa Club world Cup against Asian champions at the quarterfinal stage on December 14.

The prizemoney breakdown for 2013 Club World Cup is as follows:
Winner: $5m (R49m)
Runner-up: $4m
3rd Place: $2.5m
Fourth: $2m
Fifth: $1.5m
Sixth: $1m
Seventh: $0.5m (R4.9m)

Safa election for no change

Change we can't have. . . well at least for now we won't have someone like Burundi's Lydia Nsekera in the Safa presidential election.

I HEAR the voting for the new Safa president has started in Johannesburg as I start writing this blog in Bethlehem, eastern Free State.

Whoever wins between Danny Jordaan and Mandla Mazibuko will not bring any fundamental changes but retain the status quo of failure the two candidates were in charge of as vice-presidents of outgoing Kirsten Nematandani. The latter does not strike one as a powerful personality who could have blocked the ideas of Jordaan, Mazibuko and other Safa executive figureheads to advance the ideal of a better football nation in South Africa.

Nematandani became president for the sake of breaking the deadlock between Jordaan and Irvin Khoza the last time around, which explains why he was never part of the current race for the top post even though he’s eligible. 

To make matters worse, Nematandani’s election five years ago was declared a massive victory by a lobby which styled itself in the ideal of development and transformation. Mazibuko and Jordaan were the leading figures of this group, and remained comrades in the disaster which became Safa’s management these past five years, until just a few months before today’s election. For them to end  their comradeship does not cancel out the fact that together they were in charge of what I rank the worst period for the management of football in this country.

South Africa has a massive soccer public and it is disconcerting that at the time such a major decision is about to be taken about the sport the mood is of resignation out there. The people are tired of the merry-go-round which does not take our football anywhere. I don’t want to start listing the failures of the past five years on and off the field; they are well known and tedious to read about again, more so the lack of football for the junior national teams.

The public needs to be given hope, so concessions need to be made in the manner the president and the executive of Safa are elected. Failure to do so will foster the notion that those who are involved are self-serving and spend the length of their tenures consolidating their positions, and not serving the game.

Personally, I would like to see it being made possible that upstanding members of society who are not current leaders of Safa at any level be allowed to enter as wildcard candidates. All such candidates should be able to present significant amount of endorsement from football people in and outside Safa structures, and other interested parties. Safa must produce rules and regulations to quantify the amount of that endorsement, and also for the recognition of other interested parties.

The two candidates today have been around and are experienced enough to be in charge. But can’t we get real change, like when Kalusha Bwalya assumed the presidency of the Zambian FA, or when Lydia Nsekera took over the collapsed and banned Burundi FA? Hands up those who do not feel Bwalya’s step up came through like a breath of fresh air, not just for Zambia but African football as a whole. As for Nsekera, a car-repair business owner, her fixing skills in her country since 2004 have since been recognised by Fifa who welcomed her in its executive as the first female member ever.

This is what real change does. Let’s get it in South Africa as well, so that we can progress as accordance to our resources and abilities.     

    

Time SA drops myths about our continent

Vibrant. . . Part of Yaounde's centre shows a busy city getting somewhere. The Cameroonian capital will host Bafana Bafana's next 2014 World Cup qualifier against CAR on Saturday.

THE cancellation of flights anywhere in the world normally inconveniences travelers, and the Afrophobia bile spewed by South Africans on social and electronic media after Bafana Bafana were stranded in Douala, Cameroon, this week was uncalled for.

The extreme views expressed by South African fans on hearing that the SA football team’s connecting flight to the match venue in the capital Yaounde was cancelled demonstrated the fear and hatred my countrymen harbour for the continent. The late cancellation of the scheduled flight could have been for security reasons, and therefore aimed at safeguarding Bafana’s safe passage to their destination. However, without waiting for any clarity, South Africans just concluded the cancellation was intended.

It is sad that in 2013 we still use our misplaced fear and mistrust for fellow Africans ahead of any reason. The Cameroonian carrier concerned, Camair-Co, is notorious for flight cancellations, from when it was launched by state decree in 2006 –  it only took to the air in 2011. So from five-year delays, and habitual cancellations thereafter, regular travelers to Cameroon know you are better off depending on Kenya Airlines, via Nairobi, to land in Yaounde with minor glitches or none.

It’s strange that SA Football Association’s (Safa) travel manager for national teams, Barney Kujane, did not capture this valuable background. But what is more horrific were the heightened emotions by South Africans who smelled a plot to sabotage Bafana. I heard people dismissing possibility of road travel from Douala to Yaounde as a “treacherous” experience laden with dangers from massive potholes, goats and other elements.

Very rich coming from people who have never left the borders of SA, the country with potholes, hijackers and animals on its roads, as seen with the sad death of the assistant coach of the same Bafana Bafana, Thomas Madigage, who died in a road accident involving a stray donkey. Our people carelessly talk of the dangers of “going to Africa” as if we are coming from another continent, and therefore enforcing all the myths about Africa and its people, an attitude which created a fertile ground for xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

I am happy Bafana arrived safely in Yaounde eventually. I am saying safely because that’s what you would wish for one of your own whether they were travelling to New York or Osaka. I am also happy that their trip 240km to Yaounde was by bus, so that our players could properly absorb the sights and sounds of places they visit on the continent. The N3 stretch between Douala and Yaounde is the best road in Cameroon. It is also beautiful country, with hard-working and intelligent people, despite the eccentricity of its undeclared president for life, Paul Biya.

I hope Bafana find the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in the perfect condition it always enjoys when the Indomitable Lions play there. The stadium is named after the founding president of the country, whose home town is Garoua in the north. This is also where Cameroon’s best club and one of Africa’s leading football clubs, Cotonsport, come from.

Cameroon is an unintended host of South Africa after Central African Republic chose its neighbour to the west as the neutral venue for the Group A of Africa’s qualifying competition for the 2014 Brazil World Cup. CAR wasn’t happy choosing Cameroon as they wanted to play the game in Chad, a country with stronger political and cultural ties with the new rulers from the SELEKA coalition. Chad, more than a relatively modern Cameroon, could have unsettled South Africa with its tougher conditions. But Fifa would not allow the match to go there because as recent as last month Chad also had its own internal security issues.

Under normal circumstances Bafana should be enjoying a reasonable amount of support from the locals in Yaounde. There was a period Bafana Bafana packed stadiums on the continent, with people coming to give love to the team from Mandela’s country.

Things have changed. Bafana are not the same team which used to command  respect and admiration, and South Africa now make the news on the continent for black lynch mobs killing fellow Africans in cold blood.  

Overcoming CAR should not be a desperate matter football-speaking. Bafana’s main task in Yaounde is to win hearts again for South Africa, and put the country’s qualifying efforts for Brazil 2014 on track.

That position is perfectly summed up by coach Gordon Igesund after the team’s arrival in Yaounde:  “We don’t want to make any accusations (for the delays). We must just look forward to our mission. At the end of the day we can’t look back, we can’t harp on this matter – life must go on. We are here to do a job and we will do it to the best of our ability.”

Many reasons to travel for Cosafa

Legend . . . Godfrey Chitalu

Lusaka, Ndola, Kabwe and Kitwe have been confirmed as host cities for the Cosafa Cup playing in Zambia from July 6-21. The tournament this year will have Cecafa guests in Kenya and Tanzania.

The two east African nations will join Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mauritius and Seychelles in the group phase.

Hosts Zambia and higher ranked South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi have been given a bye to the knockout round.

All group phase matches which will be played from July 6-11 will be hosted in Lusaka and Kabwe. The two cities will also host matches at the quarterfinal knockout stage which will be played as double headers at Nkoloma (Lusaka) and Godfrey Chitalu (Kabwe) stadiums on July 13 and 14.

Copperbelt towns of Kitwe and Ndola will only host knockout matches from the quarterfinal and semifinal stages, from July 16.

Why I am writing this? Well, apart from the fact draw for the 2013 Cosafa Cup takes place tomorrow (May 3) in Lusaka on Friday, I want to travel to the tournament. This especially so for the matches in Kitwe and Ndola.

The Copperbelt has fabled stories about football in the southern region. Apart from historically providing Zambia with its finest talent since the 1960s, the region has more legends in other spheres of life which one would need to supple in ones lifetime.  

It is for this reason that the trip to Zambia will not be about the beautiful game alone but all that is beautiful about the beauty of that country – and the flow of the most urban river in Africa, the Kafue River. Apart from the copper, this majestic river is like a thread holding the Copperbelt together, linking  its major towns as if it were a highway!

Footballwise, no name rises higher than that of Godfrey Chitalu. Though Kabwe has renamed its main stadium after this legend, Chitalu was however born in the Copperbelt town of Luanshya. It is also the home town of Orlando Pirates striker and Zambian international Collins Mbesuma.

Chitalu holds his Zambian national team scoring record and was voted footballer of the year in that country five times. He was just 45 when he died in the infamous air crash off Gabon in April 27, 1993. He had just been named national coach that year, after retiring from an 11-year spell as a Kabwe Warriors player, which included a highly disputed but widely acclaimed 107 goals in one season in 1972.

This and many other stories about Zambia are already giving me sleepless nights thinking about July.  

Am I going to resign or take unpaid leave to realize the dream? Time will tell, but this is one trip that cannot be missed for all good reasons imaginable!

An inspirational story of Boston

Inspirational. . . The defending champions of the Boston Marathon Wesley Korir (30) and Sharon Jemutai Cherop (29) are a shining example of Kenya never-ending story of domination in distance running, especially the standard marathon (42.2km). On Monday the pair will line up to try defend their titles at the 117th edition of the world’s oldest annual marathon. Both athletes, after a poor start in life back home in Kenya, are living comfortable lives as professional athletes. It will therefore be not so much about the $806,000 (R7m) on offer as the first prize in both the men’s and women’s races, but an extension of a legacy for them as individuals and for Kenya. If Korir doesn’t win, another Kenyan runner will most likely take the men’s race. In the women’s race the upsurge of Ethiopian women is posing a real threat, as seen last week in Paris, when Tadese Tola took the honours. Korir, who is a permanent resident in the US, proved his popularity back home when he was elected as MP to the Kenyan national assembly last month. A biology graduate of University of Louisville, Korir is also a fierce campaigner for food security and anti-poverty programmes. He is known to celebrate finishing races by giving away his post-match sandwich to a homeless person. He and his Canadian wife are the directors of the Kenyan Kids Foundation, to improve education and healthcare in his homeland, more so in his hometown of Kitale.
 Cherop on the other hand took up running to subdue the boredom of rural existence for girls. But even more significant, she was inspired and also encouraged by two of Kenya’s best known runners, Catherine Ndereba (four-time Boston winner) and Evans Rutto, who lived in her area in Marakwet. Whatever happens on Monday, Korir and Cherop have already won their toughest races of life. 

CAR threat to Bafana is mindboggling

Way of life. . . Central African Republic's refugees in neighbouring Cameroon while away time with a game of footie. Conditions in CAR are similar or worse.

Who are Central African Republic? Well, as a country the mysterious nation is never in the news unless there is a coup or rebel activity threatening a regime change. Today (21 March) for example, the only news from CAR came from the statement by the SELEKA rebel group, who said the concessions President Francois Bozize is currently frantically making are too late for his survival in power.

 "All we ask is for him to now leave power," SELEKA spokesman Colonel Sylvain Bordas told international media. "If he does not do so, we will force him out."

The feint memory of CAR by most of the world’s adult population is the chaotic reign from the 1960s to the 1970s by Jean-Bedel Bokassa, who after forcing his way into power, declared himself Emperor Bokassa I. Apart from helping himself from the meager state coffers, Bokassa amused himself with big projects named after himself.

So, in the absence of war talk what happens there when it is “normal”? The usual struggles for survival by the poverty-stricken population, I suppose, because nothing bright about the society ever makes news, and that includes football. Well, on that score I could be mistaken because the Wild Beasts, as CAR national team is nicknamed, are in Africa’s top 10 according to current Fifa rankings – and South Africa is not.

Now that’s another mystery about CAR, because the Beasts have never played in the Africa Cup of Nations, let alone the World Cup. Their effort in qualifying competitions for both events over the decades include: “did not enter”, “withdrew”, “disqualified” or “did not qualify”.   

The Wild Beasts are in Cape Town, to show South Africa why they are ahead of them in both Fifa rankings and the 2014 World Cup qualifying group. This is the biggest test coming Bafana Bafana’s way in recent years because if they fail against a team with so many odds stacked against it, then where on earth are Bafana Bafana going to achieve the kind of success they enjoyed in the now distant past.

There’s no professional league in CAR, and the national stadium in Bangui carries a capacity of just 30 000 – about the size of Rand Stadium in Johannesburg. Its players are spread out in African countries and some in Europe, including captain Foxi Kéthévoama, who is based in Kazakhstan.

It does not matter who the coach or captain of South Africa are, failure against the likes of the Central African Republic will not be justified, given the resources we enjoy. Failure in Cape Town on Saturday will be failure of South African in its entirety. That will mark the death blow to the little that is left of what once was a proud footballing nation.

I am not going to say “come on Bafana, make us proud”. The team knows the basic thing required of them; achieving on that they would have done themselves proud.

   

Mission conquer Africa begins

Winning feeling. . . Thabiso Nkoana scored the only goal as SuperSport United stopped Don Bosco in Lubumbashi, DR Congo on Sunday. Well done Matsatsantsa!

JUST when I was thinking to myself how much the South African soccer public, usually obnoxious towards African football, had learnt from the recently ended Africa Cup of Nations, the chairman of SuperSport United gave some hope.

According to a newspaper report, Mr Khulu Sibiya this week gave United coach Gavin Hunt a revised mandate: forget the (local) league, win the CAF Confederation Cup.  Today Hunt and the boys leave for DR Congo for their CAF fixture with Den Bosco.

Before I dwell on their trip, I want to commend Sibiya for making a clean break from the general attitude by South African club bosses. In his statement, Sibiya asks a simple but crucial question: “If we can’t do well in CAF competitions how can we expect to conquer the world?” He has a point: if Hunt wins the domestic league again, for the fourth time in the last six years, it will be another local victory, again. But should the Pretoria team win the Confederation, their prestige and respect in Africa and internationally will be enhanced.

In the past local clubs contrived to send weakened team to CAF competitions, saving their stronger teams for local competition. In many instances their hand was forced by the league authorities, who refused to postpone domestic fixtures to afford clubs in CAF contests enough time to prepare thoroughly for their Africa assignments. Even this week, in my opinion, the SuperSport United away game to Orlando Pirates on Wednesday Feb 13 should have been postponed so that United could focus on their DRC trip, and Pirates on their Champions League fixture on the weekend.

The combined attitude of the clubs, league, media and the fans in South Africa has conspired to weaken the country’s chances on the continent. The media give CAF competitions scant reports, if they are mentioned at all. In December the 2012 Champions League came to a conclusion with Al Ahly and Esperance of Tunis in the final. This is news the soccer public in South Africa must know, to be informed and to appreciate the progress of other countries on the continent.

The winner there, which eventually was Al Ahly of Cairo, was to move on to represent Africa in the Fifa Club World Cup. Now that is something affecting us; we need to know who is representing us, and be up to date with their progress until the end of the world event. But South African media does not think that is important, and that extends to the masses who support the game. The latter swear by their local heroes only, and they are blank if you seek their opinion on TP Mazembe or Sunshine Stars or Wydad Casablanca.

The ignorance in South Africa about the game on the continent is self-inflicted and we are paying a heavy price for it. The bubble we have created so that we can comfortably believe, on our own, that we are the best has burst long time ago but only people like Mr Sibiya see that. Others take our aimless floating in the air as being buoyant and tops! Last week a newspaper reporter described the resumption of the local league after Afcon-enforced break as the restart of the “biggest league in Africa”. Really?

As SuperSport  United travel to DR Congo, to meet little known opposition in Don Bosco, accompanying write ups in South African would often say the SA team is meeting “unknowns”. Unknown to who? Isn’t it a journalist’s duty to research and provide information, to avoid clumsy generilisations like “unknown”. If a club is unknown then how did it reach CAF competition, duh!

 Don Bosco is based in Lubumbashi, Katanga province, just like FC Lupopo and TP Mazembe. Like Mazembe, Bosco is owned by the Katumbi family, whose head, 48-year-old Moise Katumbi Chapwe, owns TP Mazembe. His son, Champion, owns Bosco.

They can afford two clubs because Katumbi, who is also the governor of mineral-rich Katanga, is a wealthy businessman whose interests include shareholding in copper mines. His net worth is estimated at US$60 million.

Bosco is starting new life in DRC’s top flight this year after their promotion from the lower league, from where they won the Congolese cup, which qualified them for the Confed Cup. Like more fancied TP Mazembe, Don Bosco also has a strong Zambian connection in its playing and technical staff, including head coach Fordson Kabole.  It also has three Zimbabweans in Carrington Gomba, who signed in January, and Chris Semekwari and Darryl Nyandoro, who helped Don Bosco gain promotion.

Last weekend they fine-tuned for the SuperSport United game by beating Konkola Blades from Zambia 2-0. That’s the bit about Don Bosco, more on them SuperSport United will find out for themselves at the Kenya Stadium in Lubumbashi on the weekend.

For the record, Orlando Pirates host Djabal from Comoros in the first leg of the preliminary round of the Champions League at Orlando Pirates. Good lucks Bucs and United.

The usual vibe. . . at the Kenya Stadium, Lubumbashi, when TP Mazembe are in action. SuperSport United are scheduled to play here this weekend. 

Afcon finally heads for climatic finale

Real deal. . . Jonathan Pitroipa will be the man to watch for Burkina Faso in the 2013 Afcon final today.

THE 2013 Orange Africa Cup of Nations tournament is heading to a potentially exciting finale today after a stuttering start which fed on the apathy of the local fans. After a low-key opening ceremony and two goalless draws on the first day - and another draw in Group B fixtures the second day, before Mali finally cracked it against Niger later that day - it appeared the tournament was heading for disaster.

The referees also got into the act for all the wrong reasons, deciding outcomes through bizarre decisions. Strangely enough, pre-tournament favourites Ghana and defending champions Zambia were the biggest beneficiaries of refereeing shenanigans. Though some argue CAF is the mastermind behind the questionable decisions, the controlling body to their credit took decisive action. They expelled three referees from the tournament, including South Africa’s Daniel Bennett. Even bigger, the decision by Tunisian referee Slim Jdidi to red-card star Burkina Faso winger Jonathan Pitroipa was reversed.

Earlier on the tournament was rescued by Bafana Bafana’s 2-0 win over a strangely weak Angola, and high voltage 4-0 victory by a 10-man Burkina Faso over Ethiopia, changed everything. After this the tournament finally had a home in South Africa, with the action on the pitch also picking up on this mood. The Burkina Faso game against Ethiopia also revealed the star of tournament: Jonathan Pitroipa, the slightly-built forward with the looks of a model.

It was going to be a great shame for the game and the tournament had the final proceeded without Pitroipa, all because of a careless refereeing mistake. The official, Jdidi was supposed to award Pitroipa and his team the penalty after the latter was felled in the box while he was on attack.

Another great shame for the event was the pitch at the Mbombela Stadium. How the tournament was allowed to continue on that dump is curious and downright scandalous. Someone’s head has to roll for the national disgrace. If it’s not the mayor the Mbombela municipality, under whose watch this mess happened, then his immediate boss – the provincial minister for local government – must resign on the mayor’s behalf.

Back to Burkina Faso; what a turnaround of fortune for the small landlocked nation with paltry resources. It has been a curious factor that BF had been a regular feature in the Afcon, since their hosting of the 1998 edition, when they finished fourth. Despite qualifying consistently ever since, the Stallions had been failing to go past the first round.  Now, they are not only in the final match but they are dishing out the most exciting show in the 2013 tourney.

This has come as bitter pill to swallow for fancied Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana to see their poor northern neighbour progress with so much aplomb. An added pain to the Ghanaians was to see the beloved Black Stars, hugely assisted by the referee, falling in the wake of hardworking Stallions.

I bet many Ghanaians are going through sleepless nights, thanks to recurring nightmares featuring the spiky blond hair of Aristide Bance! A TV footage a day after Ghana’s defeat showed a woman in Ghana colours weeping openly in the streets, not so much for the pain of losing a football match but for the shock and humiliation of losing to the Burkinabe, the people who have always looked up to them for inspiration and hope.

And what a comeback by Nigeria – the Super Eagles are soaring high where they belong, thanks to Stephen Keshi. Isn’t ironic that Nigeria is on the brink of its first title since 1994, when Keshi himself was the captain? Larger than life Keshi has a way of provoking emotions hanging precariously at the edges: Keshi the stubborn, the brave, the clumsy, the hero. . . no half measures when coming to the “Big Boss”. Whether you love or despise him, Keshi will surge ahead governed by his own rules.

He successfully helped Togo qualify for 2006 Fifa World Cup – the biggest footballing achievement by the tiny west African country. But because still the Togo authorities found easier to fire Keshi , ahead of the world cup, just because he didn’t take Emmanuel Adebayor’s crap. The Togolese realized their error and appointed Keshi again in 2011, but that’s then the Super Eagles also became vacant and Big Boss moved on to where he is today.

He found a messed up camp at the Super Eagles and took risks to make them a well-oiled machine that they are today. Keshi had to take risks – and duck insults – to achieve that. He showed Odemwigie and many other peacocks the door, and rebuilt the Super Eagles from scratch. Nigeria had 17 Afcon debutants this tournbament, including six home-based players. That was never heard of in Nigerian football in almost two decades, and Keshi’s head was on the block.

Win or lose later today the Big Boss is having the last laugh: Nigerians are now singing the praises of Elderson Echiejile, Sunday Mba and Emanuel Emenike. The latter has come a long way since playing in the lower division of South Africa in 2008-09, for Mpumalanga Black Aces and later FC Cape Town. Enjoy a triumphant return to South Africa, Emenike is 2013 Afcon top scorer with four goals. The man from Otuocha, Anambra, is also a strong contender for player of the tournament.

Nigeria or Burkina Faso? I love them both, so let the best team win. And Mr Ref, please step out of the way!

Who's the boss. . . Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi

Cross country surges on

In the mix. . . South African cross country champion Elroy Gelant.

IT WAS a record field on Saturday when the SA cross country trials were held at the Boksburg Stadium. Favourite and SA Cross Country champion Elroy Gelant duling won the men’s 12km race, just he did in 2011 trials before he went on to win the national title at the SA championships.

Unfortunately, this news remains unknown to most people in the country as the whole focus of the nation is in the ongoing 2013 Afcon tournament. There is nothing wrong with the focus being on the soccer tournament; it’s Africa’s major championship and it’s happening here in South Africa. The “minor” sports in South Africa always struggle for attention in mainstream media but a total blackout that was it last week ahead of the cross country trials is just not on.

Cross country is an essential component of athletics; literally the grassroots. The code is the bedrock of Kenya’s supremacy in middle distance running. The trainers and athletics authorities in that country will not back a career of someone who did not go through the grind of cross country. The reason is not hard to find: cross country running gives athletes all-round qualities, while it strengthens their minds and resolve to overcome obstacles. It has a humbling effect on the athletes, something which works in the favour of the Kenyans and Ethiopians who will kill you with a smile on the road and track.

South African athletics have long identified the importance of cross country but the simple run around method still battles to develop into a culture in this country. The big numbers in Boksburg on the weekend are encouraging but it is at very lower levels that we must see kids running during weekend organised events at their local parks or grounds.

Overall the picture is not entirely bleak for cross country running for South Africa as the senior men’s and junior men’s teams finished overall fifth and six in the previous IAAF world championships in Punta Umbria, Spain, in 2011. The SA women’s teams finished ninth (senior) and tenth (10^th), not a shabby effort at all.
This week Athletics SA is expected to announce the national team going to the Southern Region Championships, to be held on March 3 in Lesotho. From the team going to the world champs three weks later will be announced. Judging by spirited effort in Boksburg on the weekend, at altitude to boot, one can confidently hope for a better showing in Bydgoszcz, Poland. 

For the record, Kgosi Tsosane finished second followed by Desmond Mokgobu and Lucky Mohale in the senior men in Boksburg. This trio and winner Gelant are most likely to be joined by David Manja (5^th) and Lungisa Mdedelwa (6^th) in the team going to Lesotho.
Lebo Phalula won the senior women’s race (8km), ahead of fellow old campaigner Mapaseka Makhanya and
Nolene Conrad. Mpho Mabuza and Christine Kalmer would complete the team to southern region event. The rest of the squad will include the following:

Junior men (8km): Namakoe Nkhasi, Creel Chavalala and Rantso Mekopane
Junior women (6km): Nonhlanhla Dlamini, Glenrose Xaba and Annie Bothma

Omens augur well for Bafana

The way it was. . . One of the stars of 1996 Phil Masinga doing what he did best, celebrating a goal!

TWO days ahead of the 2013 Orange Africa Cup of Nations the mood in the host nation remains of despondency and dejection. Majority of South Africans still do not feel the tournament, not because they think is not worth supporting. The poor form of Bafana Bafana, the national team, is not inspiring.

Not because the current coach appointed six months ago, Gordon Igesund, is doing badly. Curiously, people have more faith in him than his players. The football fans in South Africa are shocked by the rapid decline of Bafana, which gained momentum after the 2000 Afcon which was co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria. South Africa finished third in that tournament, and what happened to the former winners at first attempt in 1996 afterwards is a storybook of disastrous planning and preparation.

Bafana are in the tournament courtesy of their host status, this after failing to qualify for the last two editions. The jury is out what would have happened if hosts were also obliged to qualify, just as defending champions are!

The team selected for the tournament starting on Saturday at the National Stadium has not scored in its last friendlies ahead of the tournament. This has added to the paralysis of the national psyche as the big kickoff approaches.

South Africans however have 10 reasons to cheer up; the omens are on our side. Comparisons between the conditions the victorious 1996 team faced are curiously similar with what it is in the plate for the class of 2013. Here goes:

·         In 1996 we qualified as hosts, just as 2013

·         Opening match is against debutants, Cape Verde; in 1996 it was Angola

·         Both Cape Verde and Angola are also Portuguese-speaking countries

·         We have Angola again in Group A, just as was the case in 1996

·         In 1996 Group A had one north African team, Algeria; this time it’s Morocco

·         In 1996 the opening match was at a sold-out FNB Stadium; the same stadium is sold out for Saturday

·         While South Africa was making its debut in 1996, this time the country ushers in new Afcon era as the tournament switches from even to odd numbers, to avoid clash with the World Cup

·         Victorious SA coach in 1996, Clive Barker, was Durban-born; so is Gordon Igesund for 2013

·         We have Lions in our group, the Atlas Lions (Morocco), just as in 1996 there were Indomitable Lions (Cameroon)

·         In Dec 1995, a month ahead of the tournament, Ivory Coast were the No. 1 ranked team in Africa. The Mighty Elephants are similarly No.1 as at Dec 2012.

With so many similarities between 1996 and 2013, the only thing missing is the high spirits on the part of South Africans. The team of 1996 was lifted by all – from toddlers to grannies. This time around some people do not even know we have such a big tournament on our shores, my mother included.

I don’t know about the soccer gods, but the omens are good. Victory over Cape Verde will send everybody out on the streets, as was the case in 1996. Then my mother will know it’s game on!

2013 Afcon's interesting numbers

Strong presence. . . Mali's Adama Coulibaly is one of six players sharing his surname in the 2013 Afcon.

NOW that the squads for the 16 teams which will be doing business in the 2013 Orange Africa Cup of Nations have been finalised, it is proper that interesting facts about the squads be closely scrutinised.

The excitement is beginning to rise as the teams arrive this week ahead of the big kickoff on January 19, now just five days away.

Here are some of the facts that emerged from 23-man squads of each national team:

• Like in the past editions, the South African, known as the Premier Soccer League, is providing the bulk of the players – 25. The breakdown is as follows: 1 in Ghana squad, 2 in Togo, 2 in Niger, 5 in Zambia and 15 in South African team, Bafana Bafana.
• Ethiopia has the highest number of players drawn from the team’s own national league – 20. (Cote d’Ivoire has the least – 1, third choice keeper Ali Badra Sangare from Academie Ivoire.)
• Africa has provided 7 coaches for the tournament; the highest number in many years. These are Gordon Igesund (South Africa), Rachid Taoussi (Morocco), Lucio Antunes (Cape Verde), James Kwesi Appiah (Ghana), Stephen Keshi (Nigeria), Sewnet Bishaw (Ethiopia), Sami Trabelsi (Tunisia)
• France retains the title of providing the bulk of foreign coaches – 5, namely Claude Le Roy (DR Congo), Patrice Carteron (Mali), Herve Renard (Zambia), Didier Six (Togo), Sabrir Lamouchi (Cote d’Ivoire)
• At 41, Lamouchi is the youngest coach at the tournament. The Lyon-born mentor is a former France international of Tunisian descent. Second youngest at 42 is Carteron
• The club with the highest player representation is TP Mazembe from Lubumbashi, DR Congo – 10. The breakdown is as follows: 4 in Congo (keeper Robert Kidiaba, defender Jean Kasusula, midfielders Deo Kanda, Tresor Mputu, striker Patou Kabangu); 6 in Zambia (defenders Stopila Sunzu, Hichani Himonde, Francis Kasonde, midfielders Nathan Sinkala, Rainford Kalaba, striker Jonas Sakuwaha)
• 6 – the surname with the highest representation, Coulibaly/Koulibaly. The breakdown is as follows: 4 in Mali and 2 in Burkina Faso. Traore is second best with 5 players in Mali team (1), Burkina Faso (2), Cote d’Ivoire (2). Interestingly, both surnames belong to Malian culture.
• 13 – the number of times the African coaches have won the Afcon in its past 25 editions; better by just one than foreign coaches 

Another point of interest, though not quantified with figures, is that there are more players based in Africa who will be in action in this tournament. Nigeria for example has selected six, something which was unheard of about the Super Eagles more than a decade ago.
Let the games begin!

Bring back Dakar Rally to Africa

The real thing. . . Moroccan Harite Gabari rides the Sahara dunes in his country. Gabari is competing in this year's Dakar Rally, in South America. In the past Morocco was one of the Dakar hosts in Africa.

It’s a misnomer that the Dakar Rally is taking place in South America. Not because there is anything wrong with that part of the world, it’s a beautiful place judging by the TV footage of the event. My gripe is that it is the fifth year now that the Dakar Rally has been taken away from Africa, its original home, for security reasons and that the countries it traversed, as well as the African Union, have been silent.

I trawled the internet looking for statements I might have missed in the news, about Africa expressing the tragedy of losing this iconic motorsport  event, and maybe a promise of fixing all that took the event away. There was nothing. Quiet, like the Sahara, the spiritual home of the Dakar Rally.

 At this rate, it is adequate to conclude that as far as African leaders are concerned the biggest motor rally  is no longer the continent’s business. What are they saying in Senegal, whose capital gave the championship its name? It is still Dakar Rally after all, with the logo still depicting the head of a Touareg man, the desert nomad whose stomping ground used to provide the thrills and spins for the vehicles and motorbikes that compete in this rally.

There’s also a clumsy argument from certain quarters that Africa does not need this event as it is dominated by European drivers. This is backward thinking to say the least, given the fact that Africa loses out on the Dakar at the time international sport is multi-billion dollar industry with direct economic spinoffs experienced by host countries.

How troublesome was is it to the people of Algeria, Morocco, Mauratania, Mali and Senegal that the race used to go through their countries, a positive international exposure that is now being enjoyed by Peru, Argentina and Chile? When coming to this issue, the African leadership stands accused of throwing the bathwater with the baby.

Africa’s daily experience should not be about wars, famine or other forms of strife. The reinstatement of the Dakar Rally in Africa will go a long way to put down a solid statement that Africa is a place to be. But we need visionary leadership to clinch that deal. Wake up AU!

Harite Gabari

It’s now or never for South African football

Lonely. . . A soccer fan cuts a lonely figure at the Free State during the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup. It can't get worse for the 2013 Afcon starting in two weeks' time.

EVEN after the Bafana Bafana squad was named earlier this week there is still no sense that the host nation for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations is excited about the tournament. This adds to the gloomy picture about the slow ticket sales in South Africa, which begs the question: “Do South Africans really want to host the Afcon?”

The tournament starts in 16 days from today, and still, the tickets bought for the kickoff match in the 94 000-seater FNB Stadium are still below 50 000. Ticket sales for other matches on the opening weekend do not even deserve a mention at this stage. Two factors relevant to South African psyche can be used to explain this apparent lack of interest in the tournament in this country.

Firstly, the tickets could have been going slowly because people were more concerned about affording their commitments for the festive season. These included travelling to far off countryside for holidays with the people back home. Money is tight and this period of the year people need it to pay for both life’s pleasures and necessities, such as school fees and other financial commitments.

It can therefore be hoped that football fans will start buying tickets once they determine how much they would still have after early January expenses had been taken care of. But time is running out and this anticipated late surge for tickets will be possible only if the desire to buy the tickets is really there among the South Africans.

The interest may be further boosted by how Bafana turn out in the two home friendly matches against Norway on January 8 (Cape Town) and Algeria on January 12 (Orlando). Performances near what is expected at Afcon level could spark mass interest in the tickets. But that could be relevant only to matches involving South Africa. What about the rest?

That brings us to the second factor, which is South African public’s notorious disregard for things African. The attitude extends to soccer, where the local fraternity - from fans, to media and administrators  - hold African football in disdain. Locals do not follow the game on the continent as they  don’t see the importance of reporting on events affecting the African game, while Safa and PSL officials also do not think highly of developments on the continent.

For example, most football fans do not know that as recently as December Al Ahly of Cairo represented Africa in the Fifa Club World Cup in Japan. Even when the Egyptian giants were crowned African champions for the record seventh time in November, when they edged Esperance of Tunis in the final, in South Africa that weekend the focus was on local issues.

It is this inward looking that has stifled South Africa’s progress in African football. To ignore the game on the continent is folly because no international success by an African team – club or national – will be realized without the continent. A team must be champion here before it can shine elsewhere in the world.

 Unlike 1996, when big stars like Abedi Pele played in front of empty stadiums in places like Port Elizabeth, the tournament’s numbers this time could be rescued by the large African immigrant community living in the country. The travelling fans will also come to the rescue, and more are expected to travel than it was the case in Angola (2010) and Gabon/Equatorial Guinea (2012). Already Zambians are said to be showing more interest in the tickets than the host nation. This is not because they are defending champions but because Zambians always travel far to support Chipolopoplo and this time the trip will be shorter.

Nigerians are great travelers as well, and they also have big numbers already in all major cities of South Africa. Ghana ironically begin their campaign in Port Elizabeth, just as they did in 1996, when they attracted just 8 000 fans against Cote d’Ivoire. That proved to be the biggest crowd that city attracted in 1996 as all other matches were extremely poorly attended, notably Algeria v Burkina Faso on January 24, which was watched by 180 people in the EPRU Stadium.

The crowds were no better in other centres, Durban included. In fact one match that attracted the biggest crowd other than those involving SA was at the Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, where 9 000 saw Zambia drew 0-0 with Algeria on January 14. It was still poor attendance, and locals did not seem to care if Zambian legends such as Kalusha Bwalya, Kenneth Malitoli, Johnson Bwalya and Dennis Lota were in action in their town.

Has this attitude changed over the years? We’ll see when the 2013 Afcon starts in two weeks. But gut feeling says nothing has changed. The verdict: SA is its own worst enemy in African football. If there’s going to be a change of attitude then this is the time; it’s now or never.