SOWETAN | Relief as Safa pulls plug on bid

News that the SA Football Association (Safa) has decided to withdraw SA’s name from countries interested in hosting the 2027 Women’s World Cup should be welcomed with relief.

At a time when we are grappling with Stage 6 load shedding and an economy which is under pressure, spending millions of rand on international tournaments would have been a self-defeating exercise.

But we are aware that Safa didn’t necessarily withdraw the bid because of goodwill and thoughtfulness about the country’s challenging financial situation. Rather, the association misled by Danny Jordaan and his cronies did it because they didn’t get a carte blanche cheque akin to the one they received when SA won the rights to host the 2010 World Cup.

Then, a bid committee which was led by Jordaan had almost unlimited funds, with corporates pledging millions of rand almost every week. Government was also fully in tow, especially after we had lost the 2006 bid to Germany.

At the time load shedding was at its infancy, government was somewhat functional and the economy was better managed.

But things have taken a turn for the worse now. Jordaan has had to battle allegations he and his cohorts misused funds from the Fifa Legacy Trust, which had well over R500m, after the 2010 World Cup.

Nothing tangible has been gained from the trust, except an overvalued, derelict building named Fun Valley, which ostensibly was supposed to house all our football national teams. Well, we are not surprised that they train at other venues and opt to sleep at hotels, because the Safa “investment” at Fun Valley was like throwing money down the drain.

It would thus have been foolish of government to back Safa’s 2027 Women’s World Cup bid when – apart of big stadiums, some of which are now white elephants – we have little to show from the billions of rand spent in the 2010 event.

Jordaan was perhaps trying his luck, thinking he would use the Women’s World Cup to rescue his tattered legacy, and we have to applaud sports minister Zizi Kodwa for telling him "not this time".

The minister told us this week he required assurances of how the money would be used and when these were not forthcoming, Safa sensed danger and announced SA would pull out. Great decision.  A country in dire financial straits as SA should be spending whatever little money it has on basics, instead of costly international tournaments that will only serve to boost the egos of football bosses.