WHILE we are celebrating the end of one era - Joel Santana's mentorship of Bafana Bafana - we are being confronted with another perennial problem in local football: the refusal by some to accept change.
WHILE we are celebrating the end of one era - Joel Santana's mentorship of Bafana Bafana - we are being confronted with another perennial problem in local football: the refusal by some to accept change.
While we came out in support of Fifa's call that elections be postponed, there were some who on feeling emboldened by delegates to the South African Football Association's leadership election wanted the polls to go ahead on the predetermined date.
Now that they have done so and the outcome went against them, they are crying foul and searching for every reason to discredit the new administration.
Such behaviour takes our game nowhere.
Kirsten Nematandani might not have been everyone's cup of tea. But on his election, unopposed we might add, he became custodian of the one sport that embodies the aspirations and emotions of the majority of sports loving South Africans.
To continue trying to pull the rug from under his feet is to remove one's eye from the ball.
There is so much to be done to restore South Africa's place as a footballing powerhouse. Looking at the team it is difficult to believe that we were once one of the most respected teams in Africa and the world as reflected by our being ranked as high as 16th in August 1996.
Today we are closer to our lowest ranking of 109 in our first year of readmission to the international fold.
Firing Joel Santana was a bold step towards remedying the ills of local football. Dealing decisively with petty factionalism will complete the quest for the restoration of our football glory.
Lets think of football now
WHILE we are celebrating the end of one era - Joel Santana's mentorship of Bafana Bafana - we are being confronted with another perennial problem in local football: the refusal by some to accept change.
WHILE we are celebrating the end of one era - Joel Santana's mentorship of Bafana Bafana - we are being confronted with another perennial problem in local football: the refusal by some to accept change.
While we came out in support of Fifa's call that elections be postponed, there were some who on feeling emboldened by delegates to the South African Football Association's leadership election wanted the polls to go ahead on the predetermined date.
Now that they have done so and the outcome went against them, they are crying foul and searching for every reason to discredit the new administration.
Such behaviour takes our game nowhere.
Kirsten Nematandani might not have been everyone's cup of tea. But on his election, unopposed we might add, he became custodian of the one sport that embodies the aspirations and emotions of the majority of sports loving South Africans.
To continue trying to pull the rug from under his feet is to remove one's eye from the ball.
There is so much to be done to restore South Africa's place as a footballing powerhouse. Looking at the team it is difficult to believe that we were once one of the most respected teams in Africa and the world as reflected by our being ranked as high as 16th in August 1996.
Today we are closer to our lowest ranking of 109 in our first year of readmission to the international fold.
Firing Joel Santana was a bold step towards remedying the ills of local football. Dealing decisively with petty factionalism will complete the quest for the restoration of our football glory.