Imagine if…

Imagine the Premier Soccer League had a progressive club owner whose single-mindedness stretched beyond running his team with autonomy and cared to make a meaningful contribution to developing South African football before making money out of the game. I reckon if I was a football club owner in the PSL, I would get my accountants in, get my books in order, do my research, prepare a knockout proposal and then make a call to Abu Dhabi, to the owners of Manchester City, inviting them to invest in my club.

The Manchester club has launched an ambitious project where it aims to create a network of football clubs based in the world’s most iconic cities. In the past week it was announced that a Man City led consortium had purchased Australia’s Melbourne Heart Football Club. The deal sees City acquire a controlling 80% stake in the club and National Rugby League outfit Melbourne Storm the remaining 20%. It is a similar agreement to the one City entered into in May 2013 with the New York Yankees to secure ownership of the newly formed New York City Football Club who will join the USA’s Major League Soccer when it expands in 2015.

The Man City CEO said they chose to branch out into those two cities because both have a strong sporting culture and it helps that both clubs are in emerging markets as an important attribute of this project is to be successful both on and off the field. The MLS has developed into one of the best league outside of Europe and is able to attract quality players and football has great potential for growth in the States. So too with the venture into Australia and the Asian market which City hope to infiltrate. 

On the field, NYCFC have already hired one of the best young coaches in America as their manager and begun scouting and recruiting operations and the expectation is that they will have a strong line-up when the 2015 season starts. Having a new and powerful club with the ability to attract players of high calibre will undoubtedly increase the quality and strength of the MLS. Melbourne Heart on the other hand is currently in last place in the A-League standings having won only three of their 18 games this season. Their sale has come with the pledge from City that they will improve youth coaching and teams as well as the senior squad which already has a few coaches in the League predicting they will be genuine contenders next season.

It should be evident then why having Manchester City buying into your club would be an attractive idea for club owners over here? City would bring a wealth of resources both on and off the field, would help to develop our coaches and talent; and the buzz generated by City investing in South Africa would create interest from, among others, the locals who mainly support international football. And again, like with the MLS and A-League, having another strong team that can seriously challenge for title honours will improve the standard of the PSL.

Would City be interested in buying into a South African club? I think so. They have been here twice in the last five years on preseason tours; they have had a chance to experience what we are capable of producing off the pitch and the level our clubs are at on it. This past preseason they lost 2-0 to Supersport United and narrowly beat Amazulu 2-1 and in 2009 they lost 2-0 to Orlando Pirates. We have iconic cities in Joburg and Cape Town both with rich sporting history and culture and if there was anywhere to invest in African football it would be in SA. We have the richest and arguably strongest league and certainly the most watchable and as a product can compete with international leagues.

However, it would take a bold, ambitious owner to even think about making a call and asking to talk to Man City’s representatives. Our club owners aren’t always forward thinking and it seems to me that many like things the way they are. They enjoy having nobody to answer to way too much to give away their power.

The Curious Case of Benedict Button Vilakazi

Mawande writes...

A story of a cheat, failure or half fulfilled potential?

Considering I was a massive fan of Benedict Vilakazi in times gone by, I must admit that I am a little disappointed that his career never hit the highs I and many professionals thought he would or deserved to.

At one point, he was probably the brightest young player in the country. Benedict Vilakazi burst on the South African football scene as a 17 year old in the Vodacom Challenge in the colours of Orlando Pirates in 1999. He seemed quite an accomplished footballer from very early on, earning high praise from his coach at the Buccaneers at the time, one Gordon Igesund. He rose to stardom fairly quickly, captaining the SA under 20 and under 23 teams very early in his career and earned his first cap for the senior national team when he was only 20 years old.

Bafana Bafana: Coulda been an all-time great.

Ordinarily, you might expect the story of an exceptionally talented youngster with great achievements notched up early in his career to go on to bigger things and achieve legendary status by the end of the story. However, the story of the man dubbed 'Tso' by fans has not ended that way. At the relatively young age of 30, when perhaps many other midfielders of high acclaim reach the peak of their powers, Tso, no longer plays professional football. When you take time to look at how some players of Tso's generation, think Steven Pienaar and perhaps Siyabonga Nomvethe are playing the best football of their careers, it begs the question how this came to be.

Captain. All Time Record Goal scorer. Legend

At Orlando Pirates, Tso is a cult figure. He played in 170 games for the Sea Robbers and is the club's all-time record goal scorer with 58 goals. I don't think there can be any doubt that he played his best football in the black and white of Pirates. Sadly for football, it was all before he turned 25. From very early on in his career though, Tso was labelled as an age cheat in some corners, and looking at how the rest of his career panned out, it's possible to believe such. He moved to Danish club Aalborg in 2007 where he only featured in 5 games for the club before returning home after only one season in 2008. By the time he was playing for Mamelodi Sundowns, he looked like a player who was passed it. Sure, his time in Denmark was plagued by illness which hampered his chances of making it big over there, but was his time out of the game such an impediment that he would return a totally different player?

European Expedition: In the colours of AAlborg BK.

After his return from Europe, Vilakazi only played in 50 professional games between 2008 and 2012. A period troubled with indiscipline on his part and inconsistency in his performances. For my mind, it would seem to suggest that he had been caught out. He just didn't perform like a man in his twenties. I think it is quite peculiar that a precocious talent such as Vilakazi would earn the last of his 31 caps for Bafana Bafana at age 25 His performances from the time he was 25, on official records, didn't improve with age and experience up until the time of retirement.

It just wasn't the same

The last club he played for, Black Leopards did release him from his contract because he was found to have an unspecified medical condition. It may be that this is the same condition that dogged him in Denmark and that it did adversely affect his performances on the pitch and it may well be a valid reason for his retirement. But I'm always going to wonder if his "30 year old” legs gave in and couldn't carry him any longer.

Perhaps Benedict Vilakazi was one of the lucky ones who got to play professional football at all. Few get to play at the levels he did and up until the age that he did. Other tremendously talented footballers like Patrick Mbuthu, Thabiso “Skapie” Malatsi and Junior Khanye, to name a few, didn’t accomplish half of what Tso achieved in his career. To be quite honest though, I cannot be sure if the story of Benedict Vilakazi is one of an age cheat who lived the high life but was eventually out or a supremely gifted magician who failed in reaching the heights that he ought to or indeed half fulfilled his potential.

Bend it like Benni - The Carlos Amato interview with Benni.

Benni McCarthy has not always been my favourite South African footballer. In fact  I don't think he has ever been, until he joined Orlando Pirates this year. From the onset, he put in some well-polished performances for the Buccaneers which suggested that he was not only playing so that he could cash in his last few paycheques as a footballer.

His quality performances for the Bucs have seen Pirates add two trophies to their impressive collection over the past 2 seasons and may yet claim a third trophy this season if they successfully defend their league title. Bafana Bafana fans know Benni as a prima donna and haven't always warmed up to him either, and West Ham fans probably know him as that fat lazy guy.

This past Sunday, I read a Sunday Times article by Carlos Amato, who happens to be my favourite sports writer, about the interview he had with Benni. It is quite a refreshing read and shows a different side to Benni, that most fans of the game probably didn't know existed. Come to think of it, I have never read about any interview with Benni before.

Here's Carlos Amato's article on Benni, hopefully you will find it as interesting as I did.
bend-it-like-benni
Skyler wrote this.

Could Benni be South Africa's David Beckham?

Not the David Beckham we're talking about.

Mawande Says...

If you are thinking about David Beckham the underwear model, then this article would be complete in just 2 letters. There is no way that I can, or want to, imagine Benni McCarthy in tight, white underwear on a billboard overlooking the M1. But Benni could match David Beckham, the footballer, and his exploits in Major League Soccer in the United States, right here in South Africa’s Premier Soccer League.

The MLS was an obscure league up until 2007 when David Beckham signed for the Los Angeles Galaxy. His popularity on and off the field helped to raise the profile of the league and now it is arguably one of the most popular professional football leagues outside of Europe. One only needs to look at the quality of footballers that the MLS has attracted since Beckham signed for the Galaxy to confirm this. Mexican captain Rafael Marquez signed for the New York Red Bulls from Spanish giants Barcelona as did Arsenal legend Thierry Henry. Other notable players to sign for MLS clubs have been former Germany midfielder Torsten Frings, Scottish Premier League record goal scorer Kris Boyd, former South Korean captain Young Pyo Lee, Freddie Ljungberg and Robbie Keane.

Can you imagine this guy advertsing underwear on a billboard?



 Now Benni is not a popular figure in South Africa. He is somewhat controversial and he divides public opinion. I’ll admit to being skeptical when it was announced that Benni McCarthy had signed for Orlando Pirates at the beginning of the current PSL season. Having watched his last few performances for West Ham in 2010, I felt that he was well past his prime and cashing in on a last pay cheque. From what has transpired this season, it is safe to say my skepticism was misplaced.

Benni has been a good acquisition for the Buccaneers. He scored on debut and has gone on to score a further 7 goals for the Bucs, despite picking up leg injuries that kept him on the sidelines for a while. I have watched Benni play this season and I have been very impressed with him. His interplay with the Pirates midfield and forward players has been stellar. He has been able to find passes that ordinary players aren’t able to and he has been making telling runs that leave defenders unaware. Watching Benni for just a while, you notice that he is a class above the average player in the PSL. I have also enjoyed that he does the basics very well. His ball control and heading abilities are superior to any other striker in the PSL. In all, Benni has added a new level of professionalism into the local game and hopefully other players will learn a lot from watching and playing with him. 

Ambitious: Pirates sign Benni. The start of greater things to come in the PSL?

The signing of Benni was very ambitious of Pirates and hopefully the beginning of a new trend in South African football. The PSL has been riddled with a problem of below average foreign internationals who pretend to be good footballers so that can collect mega bucks and end up bouncing from club to club until they either surface at a club in the National First Division or disappear altogether. It seems that for every single foreign international that is a success in the PSL, there are a handful of players who turn out to be frauds. Benni is the kind of experienced and well traveled professional that the PSL should attract.



Another Class Signing. Boa Morte join the Buccaneers. Will other clubs follow suit? 



The local rumour mill suggests that Benni played a big part in Pirates signing Luis Boa Morte, who has played for Arsenal, Fulham, West Ham and Portugal. Boa Morte is the kind of foreign international the PSL clubs should want to have on their books. He is a quality player with a proven track record of success and a big name player. If he can sign for a South African team, maybe it would raise the consciousness of other SA clubs and they can look to signing big stars as well. In the case of the MLS, it took one big signing to raise the league from obscurity; it took one big signing for others to follow. Hopefully the signings of Benni and Boa Morte will be the catalyst that sees SA clubs become more ambitious with the transfer dealings and aim for the best. I don’t see why Sundowns or Chiefs cannot make a bid attractive enough to lure Didier Drogba, for instance.  

There is a lot of money in the South African game. Supersport recently paid close to R 1.6 billion for the PSL broadcast rights, so there is really nothing stopping PSL clubs from going out and signing some of the more well-known international stars. It can only improve the standard of play on the field and bring fans back into the stadiums and attract more sponsors. If clubs can take it upon themselves to think outside the box and have a bigger vision for themselves they will realize that signing players like Benni can only benefit all of South African football. One day when Rio Ferdinand and Kaka' are playing for Ajax Cape Town or Platinum Stars, we’ll look back and say, it started when Benni signed for Pirates.