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.

SA Athletes Paying The Price of Egos and Free Overseas Trips

At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, South Africa had a 20 year old sprinter in the final of the 200m sprint event, lining up alongside the likes of Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Christophe Lemaitre, Wallace Spearmon and Warren Weir. He only came in 8^th place that day but, with all things equal, it’s not hard to imagine that young man winning a medal at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. However, because of boardroom bungles, Anaso Jobodwana could be in the colours of the USA and not the green and gold South African vest and I would cheer loudly for him!

This past weekend, Athletics South Africa was suspended as a member the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) with immediate effect. It’s all a dirty affair. It is no secret that ASA has not been the best run organisation in recent years. In fact just over 2 months ago, its board incurred its first suspension by ASA owing to financial problems and infighting which led to an attempt by board members to impeach ASA president James Evans, which was later, ruled unconstitutional.

Now depending on what else you might have read on the situation and who you choose to believe you might be inclined to take the side of Sascoc as news came to light over the past few days that ASA is running out of funds, so says Zola Majavu, a well respected advocate who was appointed by ASA as an administrator. He was summarily dismissed after the decision that Sascoc made and has had undisclosed criminal charges lain against him by the ASA president. However ASA still has the support of the IAAF. Gideon Sam has been displeased with the IAAF’s stance and has likened it to Sascoc’s legitimacy as the sports authority in South Africa being denied. In other sections of the media, Sam, along with Sascoc, has been labelled as bully on a power trip. Graeme Joffe, a popular sports journalist formerly with CNN & a fierce critic of Sascoc and its leaders has called this suspension a ploy by Sam to have his cronies elected to the ASA board. So far, for my mind, this smells like a pair of 12 year olds sitting in a hostel dorm room counting who of the two has more pubic hairs. It would be very comical except that this seemingly petty squabble involves adults.

And what of the athletes, the most important entity in this whole equation? Almost no mention has been made of them. Well they, along with the organisation and its board, are suspended too. Sascoc has really gone all out to prove what a mighty force they are by proclaiming that no ASA athletes will be included in future Team South Africa squads for the Commonwealth Youth Games, Commonwealth Games, Anoca Youth Games, All Africa Games, Olympic Youth Games, Olympic Games and the World Student Games in which Jobodwana was due to participate in 9 days’ time. Sascoc has also cut funding and support for ASA athletes who were identified as potential medal hopefuls like Sunette Viljoen and Godfrey Mokoena by Sascoc's Operation Excellence (Opex) programme. Since when did any of our athletes represent ASA and not South Africa?

When athletes have to suffer at the hands of the administrators who are supposed to be protecting their best interests, such as in this case, it becomes clear that sporting matters have been thrown out the window and all that is at stake are egos, expense accounts, free overseas trips and the like. Self interest is at stake and it’s hindering South African athletes quite possibly for many years to come. Our athletes cannot improve or become world beaters with consistently competing in international events or getting funds for costly resources and training. And what is to motivate youngsters to take up track and field seriously when no South African athletes get to compete against the best because of the suits?

If this was an athletics matter, Sascoc would suspend the ASA board and take away their funding but continue to help the athletes. They say the suspension could be over in a couple of months but what damage would have been done by then? What will Jobodwana think of when someone from the US athletics body promises him near unlimited funding, facilities and every resource he needs in order to compete for them? Will he be thinking loyalty or will he be thinking about a great opportunity to become the best in the world? If I saw him at the next Olympics with the letters U-S-A across his chest, I would be happy for him and I wouldn’t find fault with his decision, would you?

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Mawande Mateza

Follow me on Twitter @Mawandinho

Side note: Anaso Jobodwana completed his second year at Jackson State University in Oxford, Mississippi in May this year. He ran a best time of 20.13 in the 200m this year and placed fourth in the NCAA National Championships. He also ran a best time of 10.10 in the 100m.

Misfortune and Opportunity.

Nobody wants to see a good player, or any other player, sidelined by injury especially one as serious as an Achilles tendon snapping. But when it does happen, we can only hope for a swift and complete recovery and to see that player get back to his best. With JP Duminy's freak injury ruling him out of action for up to six months, it might seem as though the Australians are the biggest beneficiaries in the short term, but the person who stands to gain the most out of the situation is Jacques Rudolph.

Rudolph has been in the number 6 slot since last summer after years of good performances in domestic and county cricket. But since he returned to the Test side, he hasn't stamped his authority and made that spot his own. There will come a time when the SA selectors decide that AB de Villiers is not suited to keeping wicket and performing with the bat. Class wicket-keeper batsmen aren't a dime-a-dozen and it is extremely rare that a keeper can hold on to his keeping spot and still perform with the bat. Look at Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara who has performed far better as a batsman without the added responsibility of the gloves. At some point, the Proteas would have had to find a spot for a specialist keeper and the person most likely to fall away would have been one of Rudolph or Duminy.

Rudolph now has the opportunity to make runs without looking over his shoulder to see what Duminy is doing. Granted, it is difficult to make runs in the South African line up at number 6 especially when the top order has been performing so well over the last year. During the recent Test series against England, the first which featured Rudolph at number 6 and Duminy at 7, Rudolph averaged 35,25 in 4 innings whilst Duminy averaged 67, 5. There will be a little added pressure on Rudolph though, as every innings he bats from now until the New Zealand and Pakistan tours to South Africa in December and early 2013 will be watched with intense scrutiny, but at least in the race for the number 6 spot he doesn't have to worry about Duminy breathing on the back of his neck, for the time being.