Durban 2022? Level the playing fields first

Eyeball to ball. . . Offiong Edem is one of Nigeria's biggest stars in table tennis. She boasts five All-Africa Games gold medals and one silver from 2007 and 2011 events. Apart from football and athletics, Nigerian women are also a force in table tennis because the sport is easily accessible to them 

As a candidate bidding to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games, South Africa cannot lose; Durban is the only city in the race! Citing the expensive bill for the games, Canadian city of Edmonton was the last rival to withdraw its candidature.

However as far as the public opinion is concerned, South Africa is already on the ropes defending its decision to support the bid to host the world event.
Many South Africans are of the opinion that our government is obsessed with hosting international events. Our economy is in its worst shape, and people are concerned that politicians and their friends in business are the only people who benefit from these events, while the rich-poor gap in South Africa continues to widen at an alarming rate.

I agree with most opposing arguments. However, for me the most urgent matter as far as sport in South Africa is concerned, is the need to open up the the playing ground. Many children growing up in South Africa today do not play any sport, let alone the Olympic codes which the Commonwealth Games are about.
Most South African kids grow up without exposure to uncomplicated sports such as table tennis or volleyball, not because we lack the resources to make sure the children and youth have access to these sports in their community.

At the heart of this dearth of the Olympic culture is the absence of the political will to drive mass participation in sport. The problem is especially worse in poor areas where fancy lifestyles driven by popular cultures and and narcissism are what attracts the youth; basically young people are not inspired to sweat it out practising judo, taekwondo, shot put, long jump, running, etc.
It is a calamity that in a free South Africa children have no access to sport, except those living or going to school in upmarket suburbs.

But even more shocking is the inaction of communities, local leaders and political leadership both at all levels up to the cabinet. What kind of strategy or money we need to make sure every school and community hall has a set or two of table tennis equipment? If we cannot afford table tennis and volleyball, why do we waste time talking about swimming and golf in poor areas?
Additional trouble for my soul is that options for black girls have been drastically reduced. Communities have become so hostile that it is practically impossible for a girl to practice sports, or even jog in her neighbourhood. Prospects for girls are dim even at the school grounds after school; that erstwhile safe environment has become hostile and dangerous.

Furthermore, teachers in black communities no longer care to volunteer their time to coach or supervise pupils as they practice sport on school grounds.

Talking about grounds, in my home town of Tembisa some of the sports fields we played on or watched sport at when I was a kid there in the 1980s have been overrun or taken away by other activities, including churches. This has drastically undercut South Africa's Olympic potential; how do we expect to produce athletes of international esteem under such conditions?

In their bid portfolio, the Durban committee lists  the ICC as the competition venue for badminton, boxing, judo, weightlifting and wrestling. Except for badminton, the other sports codes mentioned here were regularly practised by youth at Rabasotho Hall and Tsepo Hall in Tembisa during my childhood. While Rabasotho Hall still stands today, Tsepo Hall had become a  ZCC compound for the past 20 years. Ground No 9, the soccer field closest to my neighbourhood at Mashemong Section, is now exclusively used by the church of Pastor Solly Mahlangu, who is also an award-winning gospel music singer.

The Durban Exhibition Centre is listed as the venue for table tennis and netball. Again, these codes are the simplest to have in abundance in communities because of their very low cost of maintenance. However, since the dawn of democracy, these two sports have had a diminished presence in Tembisa. And that has got nothing to do with shortage of money. If girls cannot practice table tennis and netball, how do we go to sleep without agonising over interventions for this unpalatable state of affairs?

I saw the enthusiasm in Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula when he led the Durban bid committee as it formally lodged the bid with the ICC in London earlier this week. He spoke about how the Glasgow Commonwealth Games last year boosted Scotland's stature in international sport by producing medal-winning athletes. Mbalula predicts Durban 2022 will do the same for South African sport.

I beg to oppose you sir; in the run-up to Glasgow 2014, Scotland's young people had long enjoyed uninterrupted access to Olympic sports in their communities; evidence for this are competition records from local, regional to national levels.

Tembisa and Ivory Park combined have an estimated population of 1 million people. How come in the past year this massive human resource never organised local championship for table tennis, netball, judo, track and field or volleyball?
This is where we should pause and ponder: do we need to host another expensive international sports event or do we need to open up the playing fields and make sure children go out to enjoy regular practice and competition in various sports codes?

I choose the latter.                

France, the biggest player in 2015 Afcon

French influence . . . Ivory Coast's French coach Herve Renard walks by as his 2015 Afcon-winning players celebrate their victory in Equatorial Guinea last month. Renard, who also won the 2012 Afcon with Zambia, was born in Aix-les-Bains in Rhone-Alpes region of western France, near Switzerland and Italy.  

France is inadvertently a major player in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations currently on in Equatorial Guinea. Dozens of players representing various teams have players born in the former colonial power, or players who either were raised in France or live there because of their contracts with French clubs in all levels. 
There are African players from the elite Ligue 1 down to independent soccer academies in all corners of France.
On the opening day of the tournament Spanish-born Emilio Nsue scored for Equatorial Guinea but Congo’s Thievy Bifouma opened the flood gates for French-born players when he equalised later in the match.
The stylish striker was born Thievy Guivane Bifouma Koulossa in Saint-Denis in Paris, within sight of the famous Stade de France. He plays his football in Spain, for Almeria on loan from Espanyol. Bifouma played youth international football for France, with under-20 and under-21 caps. It is remarkable that he's such a central figure for the Red Devils, for whom he only started playing since last year.

In neighbouring Gabon, captain and glamour boy Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was also born in France, in a quiet city of Laval in the north-west. The Borussia Dortmund winger sored as Gabon beat DR Congo 2-0 in the second game of the tournament. More French-born players found the net for their African teams in the subsequent matches, the best being the two scored on the second Saturday of the tournament. On the evening's first match in Group D, Bakary Sako opened the scoring for Mali with a powerful effort against Ivory Coast. Sako was born in Ivry-sur-Seine, in the southern of Paris. He played under-21 internationals for France, before switching allegiance to the country of his parents.
His story is similar to Mali teammate brothers' Mustapha and Sambou Yata, who were born in Beauvais, two hours drive from Paris. Needless to add, Sambou scored Mali's first goal of the tournament.  

In the second match that night, Guinea captain Ibrahima Traore cancelled out Cameroon's early lead as the match ended 1-1. It was a brilliant effort by the likable Traore, who was born in Villepinte, in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris. One of his Guinea teammates, Florentin Pogba, was born in the capital Conakry but grew up in France where his family had moved. He played for the French under-20 team.
Pogba's more famous younger brother, Paul Pogba of Juventus, was born in eastern Paris and he plays international football for his native France.

Other notable French-born stars of the Afcon include Yannick Bolaise, who was born in Lyon, and scored DRC's only goal in the tournament so far, in the draw against Zambia, and Algeria's Yacine Brahimi. Brahimi, also born in Paris, played a full spectrum of French youth squads: U-15, U-16, U-17, U-18, U-19, U-20 and U-21. For Algeria he represents all that is good about country's mission to recruit from France descendants of Algerian immigrants in France. The benefit of this was players who enjoyed world class development structures in the country of their birth. Algeria are a totally different team now, qualifying for the last world cup and rising to the top of African football rankings.

Even more crucial is that with five coaches France also enjoy the lion's share among the coaches on duty in the 2015 tournament. These are Christian Gourcuff (Algeria), Claude Le Roy (Congo Brazzaville), Michel Dussuyer (Guinea), Herve Renard (Ivory Coast) and Alain Giresse (Senegal). Second best are Belgium and Portugal, with two apiece - Belgians Paul Put (Burkina Faso) and Georges Leeskens (Tunisia) and Portugal's Jorge Costa (Gabon) and Rui Aguas (Cape Verde). Of the last four, only Leeskens has advance to the next round.

I don't know how many players in this tournament were born or groomed in France, but what is clear is that the presence of the former colonial power in north, west and central Africa has an influential presence in Equatorial Guinea right now.  Depending how the tournaments concludes, should the final contain teams with such players, and those who went to France to play professional club football, the France will have every right to boast that they were the biggest country in the 2015 Afcon.

Marked man . . .Bakary Sako of Mali drags two Cameroonian defenders with him as he surges for goals. Sako, a former French youth international, was born in Paris

Fifa club cup begs for attention

The 2014 Fifa Club World Cup currently on in Morocco has received very little to zero coverage in most of Africa, including South Africa.

I don't know about other places on the continent, but as far as South Africa is concerned the media boycott has nothing to do with Morocco's late withdrawal as hosts of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nation. Knowing the attitude of my country's media and the football public at large, this world show on home continent was destined to be a non-starter as was the case last years and the years before. One would have thought that since we were competing with Morocco for the 2013 and 2014 hosting rights, South Africa would take interest to see how we could have done things better, compared with what's transpiring in Morocco right now.

By the look of things, all is going well in Morocco and the games are well supported. The first semifinal on Tuesday, when Real Madrid beat Cruz Azul of Mexico 4-0 in Marrakech, 34,862 fans thronged the stadium. This albeit last-minute change of venue from waterlogged  Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat. Other matches have attracted crowds no less than 22 000 in both host cities.

 With this in mind, I think it's a blessing that South Africa lost the bid to the north African state. There was no way the games here would have attracted crowds bigger than 20 000. The reason is that SA is still lagging behind about trends in the international arena; it's even worse when such events are held in Africa. Some blame apartheid but the truth is that the people here just don't care much about developments on home continent.
I know I could be generalising but the truth is that information about what's happening in Africa is easily available now, thanks to internet on mobile phones. On average, South Africans are more concerned about what's happening in America, which explains why artists from the US are coining it here while best African music exports remain largely unknown in the land of Mandela.

Secondly, SA media's coverage of Africa is also not helping as it ignores major, positive developments and highlight disasters. Should anything go wrong during the Fifa tournament in Morocco, like a stand collapsing and injuring fans, it will be news until the end of the week. But conversely very, very few people in SA are aware that Real Madrid are in action in Morocco this week, and that they are the defending champions of the world crown they won in the same African country in 2013.
Maybe what the tournament needed was a group of crazed locals threatening the Real Madrid bus with violence, then South Africans, even sworn football lovers, would have known that one of the world's top football clubs is in Africa right now.

Furthermore, it's indictment on SA's ambition to be top in African football when the fans here had not even heard of the Fifa Club World Cup. A vast majority of SA fans still do not know that the biggest reward for playing and winning the African Champions League  is the ticket to the Fifa Club World Cup. This also explains why in SA the CAF Champions League is held with disdain, when in reality should be the crowning glory for excellence in club football in Africa.

For the record, the final match of the Fifa tournament will take place on Saturday in Marrakech, with Madrid meeting San Lorenzo of Argentina.

   

How clinical Klitschkos ended razzmatzz

Heavyweight kings. . . Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko celebrate another victory.

A fierce left hook ended it in the fifth round. Despite the clinical finish and the thunderous punch, the news went largely unnoticed. The event was heavyworld champion Wladimir Klitschko defending his four championship belts. 

The event took place on Saturday in Hamburg, Germany. And how did the heavyweight title fight end up being a brief in the newspapers, and even crucially, non-event on radio, is quite astonishing. What happened to the days when the heavyweight championship was top billing for weeks ahead of the date, and big news on the fight weekend until the Monday. On Monday November 17, my paper Sowetan did not carry an article on the event. The Times had it as the shortest brief in a column of four briefs. 

So what happened to the biggest slam of not just boxing but world sport as a whole? This is the station that made Muhammad Ali a legend that he is; where would he be had he been the flyweight champion? I don't mean to insult boxers in the lighter divisions, but the heavyweight propelled professional boxing to zenith heights and gave the sport more excitement and better known sportsmen. Imagine names like Joe "Brown Bomber" Louis, Rocky Marciano, George Foreman, Ken Norton, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson and Evander Hollyfield. The latter was essentially an engineered heavyweight because he wasn't getting any love dominating the junior-heavyweight division. So Hollyfield stepped up and got respect.

There were other fine heavyweights such as Sonny Liston, Earnie Shavers and in latter years Lennox Lewis. And in SA we still believe the likes of Leon Spinks, John Tate and Mike Weavers were the real deal though in honest truth they earned some fame just because they were heavyweights and heavyweight fighting was big news.
Then came the Klitschkos -  Vitali and Wladslaw. The Ukrainian pair emerged on the scene with doctorates, an unconventional amour for heavyweight boxing. Both brothers were born in unusual places because of the work of their military officer father during the days of the Soviet Union. Vitali was born July 19 1971 in Belovodsk, Kyrgyzstan, while Wladimir was born in Semy, Kazakhstan, on March 25, 1976. They also grew up in East Germany as their  father was a military attache there for the USSR. 

Vitali was nicknamed Dr Ironfist for the stranglehold he had on the heavyweight title, which returned the second highest knockout rate (87.23%) after Marciano's 87.76%. He holds a PhD in sports science. Vitali, now retired, is the current mayor of Kiev, Ukraine's capital.
Wladimir, or Dr Steelhammer, also holds a PhD in sports science. The Klitschkos are studious, disciplined and hard working, values perhaps inherited from the high ranking military officer their father was. Their clinical approach, which has yielded a total of mere five losses out of  113 wins, speaks volumes about their ability in the ring. Clearly this is untouchable, and therefore killed off any challenge, hype, vibrancy in the heavyweight division. Moreover, the Ukrainians have taken the title from the US and its hype masters.

For the record, Wladimir's fight on Saturday was against IBF's mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev from Bulgaria. He was unbeaten in 20 pro fights before he was sledgehammered in the fifth in the World Arena. 
Wladimir Klitschko is now the longest reigning IBF, WBO & IBO heavyweight champion in history with the most title defenses for those organisations. Overall, he is the second longest reigning heavyweight champion of all time with the second most successful career grand total title defenses,  22. 

With a total of 26 world championship fights, he is just one fight behind Joe Louis' tally of 27 title fights. With stats like these, and big personalities the Klitschkos have, heavyweight boxing perhaps is waiting for their era to pass before the rumble and the razzmatazz offered by boxers from the streets returns.

Bafana hobble back to life after tragedy

Handover. . . Black Aces goalkeeper Jackson Mabokgwane, left, seems to be receiving a happy endorsement from late SA and Orlando Pirates goalie Senzo Meyiwa. Both are former national under-20 keepers

Today Bafana Bafana will try to walk the path back to normalcy as coach Shakes Mashaba names his new squad post the death and burial of captain and No1 keeper Senzo Meyiwa. 
Needless to say, all eyes will be focused on the new developments in the two positions Meyiwa had brilliantly held up in the four matches which marked Mashaba's return as national coach. 

The shrewd Mashaba has sprung surprise on his team selection, including the naming of Meyiwa as captain as well as giving then 17 year old Rivaldo Coetzee senior caps. But what has been clear with Mashaba's choices is that he is guided by the players' form and experiences during their time in the South African under-20 team. This is where he has marked himself clearly different from his predecessors, who were hoodwinked by celebrated players in top PSL clubs for their selection.

The results had been disastrous for Pitso Mosimane and Gordon Igesund, as their tried and tested "stars" consistently failed when it mattered the most, mostly so in this year's CHAN tournament. This second tier African championship had provided Igesund with a grand opportunity to select a young squad.

SuperSport United's Rowen Williams is strongly favoured to be recalled. Williams is a former national under-20 keeper, and so is the more senior Darren Keet, who was Meyiwa's deputy. The third goalkeeper is the current Amajita (U20) goalie Dumisani Msibi. But I prefer another former Amajita keeper Jackson Mabokgwane to be called. Apart from enjoying phenomenal form currently, as seen with man of the match showing as his club Mpumalanga Black Aces beat Meyiwa-led Orlando Pirates three weeks ago,

Mabokgwane will add more experience and vigour in the goalkeeping department. He's 26, while Belgium-based Keet is 25. Williams and his SuperSport teammate Msibi are still young at 22 and 19 respectively. So one of them should be considered as the third keeper to the more senior Keet and Mabokgwane. This is the explanation Mashaba advanced when explaining why he had chosen Msibi ahead of Williams in previous assignments. He said two keepers should be ready to play, while the third must be a young player who must be around to learn.

No doubt Meyiwa's choice as Bafana captain was brave and worked like a charm, which further cemented Mashaba's plaudits as a keen reader of the game. This time it appears it will be toss-up between defender Tefu Mashamaite and Dean Furman. Mashamaite is already captain at Chiefs, and is widely respected for his clean image and dedication to the game. The same can be said about Furman, whose dogged presence in the midield and defence has helped carry the new-look Bafana to new heights.

Furman has leadership qualities and also knows a lot about being captain, after he was appointed skipper at Oldham Athletic before joining current club Doncaster Rovers in England. In his youth football days Furman captained Glasgow Rangers' under-19, a quality which Mashaba seems to be enthusiastic about when making his crucial team decisions.

It's a wait and see. . .

In command . . . Dean Furman has proven his leadership qualities in Bafana Bafana.  

Rivaldo fairytale was scripted by Ajax and Shakes

Born winner. . . Rivaldo Coetzee, front, celebrates with his Ajax Cape Town U19 teammates after winning the 2013 Engen KO Challenge. He captained the side

Many a Bafana Bafana fan wars either enthralled or shocked by the ease with which young Rivaldo Coetzee took his place in the Bafana defence. We know that area of the team being the territory of big, tough guys, not laaities. So how did Rivaldo came through with flying colours, aged just 17?

Firstly, the lad comes from Kakamas, a place 90 percent of South Africans will die without having set foot there. The tourism town with a history of poverty is mostly known as the rest spot for travellers heading to the Aughrabies Falls, or the thinly populated west coast of South Africa.
Secondly, Rivaldo has two institutions to thank for his history-making debut for Bafana in Congo last Saturday; these are Ajax Cape Town and Shakes Mashaba.  

Rivaldo was moulded by the respected development structures at Ajax. He got used to winning in an organised environment from an early age, winning several titles with Ajax junior and youth squads. In 2012 Mashaba added his influence over him in the national under-17 squad. Rivaldo and his Ajax teammate Ayabulela Magqwaka proved themselves to be quality material under Mashaba. But they also learnt early to deal with bitter dissapointment as Amajimbos fell 5-3 on aggregate to Ghana (December 2012) in their final qualifier for 2013 Africa Under-17 Championships.

The year 2013 was a big year for the unassuming Coetzee. Far from the attention of the South African media, which normally gives youth soccer scant mentioning, the youngster  was achieving great things ahead of his time. In August of that year he captained the Ajax Cape Town under-19 side as they won record six th Engen KO Challenge title.

Rivaldo not only received the trophy on his behalf of his teammates, he only scooped the defender of the tournament and player of the tournament titles for himself. Needless to say,  he was partnered by Magqwaka in defence. By that the pair and some of their under-17 teammates had graduated to the national under-20 with Mashaba. Ironically, Magqwaka captained his club skipper in the Amajita squad.

In December 2013 the pair strongly led Amajita to victory in the Cosafa championship held in Lesotho. Also in December Rivaldo and Magqwaka were registered for Ajax senior team, to play Premier League soccer!
In between the business of trying to find their footing in the Ajax squad, the pair continued with business of helping SA qualify for Under-20 African championship, under their mentor  Mashaba.  

As fate would have it, that match against Cameroon also happened to be the last for Mashaba as the head coach of Amajita, following his appointment to coach Bafana Bafana, the SA senior team.
Mashaba shook the nation with the unthinkable, selecting both Coetzee and Magqwaka to Bafana Bafana. While Magqwaka is still waiting for his chance at senior level, Coetzee on Saturday made his never scripted debut in Congo! His first senior cap made him the youngest player ever to play for Bafana Bafana, beating the old record by Aaron Mokoena, also a defender.

When he ran onto the astro-turf surface at Pointe-Noire, Coetzee's age was 17 years, 11 months and 26 days old. Mokoena was 18 years, two months and 26 days old when he debuted for SA.
That he never looked out of place in his entire 90 minutes on the field, Coetzee simply endorsed his mentor's approach and philosphy. That it felt like "I've been here before" points to the hard work by the coaches at Ajax development structures, as well as the leadership of Mashaba as team manager.

It has never felt this good in a long, long, long  time to be a Bafana Bafana fan. Thanks to the coach and the lads to finally bury the ghost of Pointe-Noire, and for SA soccer to be mentioned with reverence again on the continent.

Now repeat the sweet victory in Congo by slaying he Red Devils once and for all in Polokwane on Wednesday.  

National colours. . . Rivaldo Coetzee has played for SA at under-17, under-20 and senior level. He still has to make his debut for the Olympic team, the under-23 squad

Time to bury the ghost of Pointe-Noire

South African teams do not like travelling to any of the Congos and Bafana Bafana, the senior national team, has a particular phobia for Pointe-Noire, a port in the smaller Congo. Our team team is heading there today, to face the leaders of Group A in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on Saturday.

Back in 1997 SA was still inexperienced in international football, after our readmission five years earlier. On that fateful day, 6 April 1997, Bafana experienced their worst acts of intimidation and open hostility in Pointe-Noire (the Black Cape) when  their players were roughed by Congo players and soldiers on the sidelines. The soldiers also ordered SABC TV crew to switch off, while defender Mark Fish bled from military assault.

Because of that fiasco in 1997 the trip to Pointe-Noire has symbolised a journey into the heart of darkness, despite Bafana Bafana traveling back to Congo three times in subsequent. The SA team won two of those matches and drew one. Horror is not a nice picture to have about fellow Africans. I want to believe a lot has changed in the intervening period  because 1997 was not a good year for Congo and its people. In April of that year the political situation was tense and the government soldiers operated with impunity, like a militia group, with the blessings of a highly paranoid President Pascal Lissouba.

On June 5, Lissouba's forces surrounded the Brazzaville compound of his rival Denis Sassou-Nguesso but the latter ordered his own militia, the Cobras, to resist. The exchange of fire would continue until October when Angola troops invaded Brazzaville in favour of Sassou-Nguesso, who installed himself president and is still in power today.

Bafana are a better team since Shakes Mashaba took over three months ago. Judging by the fearless approach Mashaba and his boys showed in Sudan and against Nigeria, the ghost of Pointe-Noire is ready to be buried. But footballwise, it won't be that easy because the Red Devils are also a different team from the days we used to beat. Winds of change have been blowing in recent for Congo football in recent years, as seen by the competence of its champion club Leopards of Dolisie  in CAF competitions. Dolisie is  a  town 110km north-east of Pointe-Noire, on the N1 linking Brazzaville to Pointe-Noire.

Morever, the Devils boast an increased number of foreign-based players including their inspirational captain Prince Oniangue. The Paris-born midfielder scored in each of Congo first two matches in Group A, as the Red Devils beat Nigeria (3-2) and Sudan 2-0.
Even more significant was the appointing of veteran of African football Claude Le Roy to coach the side. The Frenchman is revered for being a disciplinarian who managed to bring the best out of many national teams on the continent, including DR Congo, Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana.

Congo was  ranked 84th in the world when Leroy took over the reigns in December 2013. A string of victories has improved their position to 48, far above 67th ranked South Africa who are rebuilding after a long-term collapse.

It is now up to Bafana to prove that the rankings can mean nothing by slaying the Devils one more time on Saturday. Beef up boys; turn Pointe-Noire into the most pleasant resort ever!

Atlantic coastline at Pointe-Noire, Congo