Sport Matters

Ever since Floyd Mayweather's trip here was announced by the South African Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula I have been wondering about the purpose of the controversial boxing champion Floyd Mayweather's visit. Well, I am not in the dark anymore because "Money" has said it himself: "I don't know why I'm here but it's good to be in Africa." Of course it's good to be in Africa, despite all the troubles the continent experiences and you got to love Mayweather for his honesty in this instance. Mbalula has brought to the sport minsitry, which for a long time had been stagnanted by his predecessors. However, the trouble with "Fiks" are two main distractions to his mission:  his love of the party and obsession of for US celebrities. If Mayweather is here to inspire somebody - youth or boxers - then he does not come fully equipped for that task. This was seen by his late arrival at the Dube Boxing Club in Soweto today. He visibly thr...

Man to watch. . . Abdoulaye Sissoko, left, shows why he's the man to mark when Mali meet South Africa today. Sidibe, Traore, Sissoko, Diarra, Coulibaly. . . these are the names any Mali football team is likely to have. Mali players are characteristically lanky and muscular. They play in a semi-professional league which is largely based in the capital Bamako, with very little organised football in far-flung regions of the massive country. Given this usual background about Mali football, what's there to fear for South Africa ahead of their Chan 2014 fixture this evening? Well, Mali beat Nigeria 2-1 in their opening match, and their tactical aptitude and aggressive approach were a delight to watch in that match. Does this now mean restless time for Bafana Bafana? It should not be. Mali is not Bafana's problem, self-doubt is what limits the host team. Fair enough, it was Mali which kicked South Africa out of the Afcon 2013, at the quarterfinals. Ironically, SA is h...

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 yea...

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 ...

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, des...

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 sha...

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 elec...