NKARENG MATSHE | PSL coaches robbed Ronwen Williams, not Saleng, of top award

Keeper's ex-coach Hunt may have swayed opinion against him

Monnapule Saleng of Orlando Pirates is according to public debate the latest name to join other unfortunate non-winners of the coveted footballer of the year award, voted for by all 16 PSL coaches, which went to Mamelodi Sundowns’ Teboho Mokoena.

Saleng had an exceptional season, yes, and perhaps winning two trophies, the MTN8 and the Nedbank Cup, should have given him an edge that his praise singers feel he deserved.

For me, however, the only person who was robbed on Sunday was Ronwen Williams. The Sundowns goalkeeper should have been footballer of the year, and for him to emerge with just the best goalkeeper award is a definite injustice.

Think back to when Williams joined Sundowns last winter, when doubts persisted as to whether he could dislodge Denis Onyango as the club’s number one. But as soon as he settled into the position, he didn’t look back and went on to set some records with the Brazilians.

Williams conceded just 10 goals in the 26 league games, keeping 18 clean sheets in the process, a new mark for the domestic league. The advanced argument that he plays with a constant, solid defence doesn’t hold because, in truth, Sundowns have juggled their central defensive pairing a lot in the just concluded season.

In their opening match against Cape Town City on August 5, Williams had Brian Onyango and Mosa Lebusa in front of him. The pairing was later changed to Onyango and Rushine de Reuck, then Grant Kekana-De Reuck, before Rulani Mokoena later settled on Mothobi Mvala and De Reuck. But this is beside the point: Williams continued to produce the good irrespective of what new defence was thrown at him.

In 12 league games between October and February – all wins for Downs – he conceded just two goals. He was required to make several saves, and the image of him celebrating triumphantly after Marcelo Allende had cleared one off the line to preserve a clean sheet is still fresh in mind. Williams truly came of age and commanded Sundowns to glory from the back, able to initiate play, pick key passes and set up teammates.

So the question is why did PSL coaches not vote for him? The answer could lie in the curse of being a goalkeeper. In the PSL’s 27-year history, only two keepers, Andre Arendse (2002 with Santos) and Itumeleng Khune (2013 with Kaizer Chiefs) have been voted footballer of the year. But that neither had a record as exceptional as Williams’s is further cause for concern. Could the coaches have been influenced into voting for Mokoena by Gavin Hunt’s misguided comments that Williams didn’t deserve the award?

Hunt provided his reasons at a SuperSport United media day last month – the most ludicrous of them was that choosing a keeper means the team is struggling – but we are yet to hear from other coaches as to why they preferred Mokoena, who unlike Williams had had a head-start adjusting to life at Downs, having joined six months prior to his ex-SuperSport teammate.

Whatever the case, it would be prudent for coaches to provide reasons publicly as to why they made this decision, not least as Hunt had already led the way, strangely tipping the scales – unwittingly or otherwise – against Williams who right up to that media day, had been an almost unanimous name as debate about footballer of the year raged.