The State of South African football has been in the intensive care unit for years now. The pastor has come to deliver his last prayer and as a country, we have been watching it slip further and further into the abyss. Sadly, whatever is killing them, seems to be infecting our other sports in South Africa. The Proteas can only get wins against countries who are still war. Great times.
Since I grew up in these white schools, I was able to watch how the development for the historically white sports occurred, and how they get the talent to a world class standard. Now I'm not saying the white man is always right, no, not at all as we've seen them make sex robots and shower once a week, but their development in their sports could help us get our standards up, even just a bit.
Every year, the historically white schools spend millions and millions, recruiting players for cricket, rugby, hockey etc. They give 100% scholarships to a full team of youngsters from across the country and from different backgrounds. Under privileged students are given scholarships, money for books and pocket money to leave their homes to play for these schools. The competition for the best players between the big schools is intense, to the point where they will bribe parents for the talent. There they provide top class facilities and coaching. This happens all over the country. For all the historically white sports. This makes the competition and the top-level schools intense in these sports. There is a reason high school Rugby in South Africa is televised. The level of competition is that good. This does 2 things. It takes people who are good at those sport but couldn't afford to pay for those schools and gives them opportunities and then it puts them into a strict system, teaching discipline and semi-professional standards of training and competition with all the other top tier athletes. This results in a lot more exceptional players in that sport for the top teams to pick from, and therefore the national team gets better players.
Then we come to soccer in these schools. At best if they have 2 people on scholarships for it, that school is serious. I'm not saying they are the answer to our problems, no not at all, but the schools with the money and facilities to scout and coach a lot more top tier football players have no care for it at all. With their help we would be able to do the following: first we would be able to uncover talent in more areas as now we would be adding more scouting to the systems already in place. Secondly we would be able to take the soccer players from townships etc. and put them into the elite schools where they could develop the discipline needed to survive in the professionals and put them into a system that holds you accountable for you performances, that will have video sessions for your last game, strict diets and working out around your class schedule. My hope here is for the number of actually really good players to improve cause of the increase in scouting and professional players. It might not work, but it should give more choices.
This can be done by SAFA giving incentives to these top schools to give more soccer scholarships etc. I don’t know.
Have you ever watched kids in grade 3 play rugby? Or cricket. I had to watch my lil bro play. What I saw amazed me. The kids were playing in a very strict manner. They were performing backline moves that amazed me. The discipline was crazy. See with these sports the kids are taught discipline and tactics from the first time they touch a ball. Technique is taught, how to stay in position is taught. This occurs even when they are playing with friends.
Then I watch soccer in the same age group. And you see kids running around like possessed chickens... who happen to be headless. There is no structure at all.
What I'm saying with this, is that in this country, players are only introduced to proper systems and soccer tactics when they get to the professional setting. Before that, soccer at school is played quite willy nilly without being taught how to read the game, play off the ball and even basic techniques. It only becomes serious when a player is in their 20s which is definitely too late. One of the most famous soccer videos is the one of a young Barcelona team playing tiki taka at the age of 11. The passing and the discipline there is elite. Players in our academy teams would have trouble doing the same thing at their big ages, but its hard to tell a guy who has been playing for 20 years to learn how to play systematic football at that old age. Our football development at the lower levels is the reason we aren't improving. The fact that it only becomes serious at such a late stage is detrimental to our country and is one of the reasons the football is so bad.
When in 2014 the MultiChoice Diski Challenge was kick started, it seemed like a blessing to youth football in this country. Don’t get me wrong, this tournament has groomed a lot of young players. In its inauguration, it was set to have an age restriction of players under 20 years older which later became 23 before the first game was played. One of the main issues in our football structures is young players only getting a first team break in their mid-20’s stunting on their progress. The MDC is used a place to play all the young players, leaving first team duties to experienced players. In some cases the first team has an overflow of experienced players who end up filling the quota of over 23’s in the MDC squads. Football, unlike rugby, cricket or hockey, has a big issue when it comes to talent falling in between the cracks when moving from high school to pro or semi-pro structures. The MDC could’ve provided a solution, forcing clubs to scout younger for their MDC teams instead relying on older reserve players to provide them with the quality needed to succeed in the tournament.
In the end, there many other things wrong with our football. Coaching methods, trainers etc, but I honestly do feel like changing the aforementioned things would improve the quality to at least be able to compete in Africa.