On Tuesday, we attended the Springboks’ 2023 World Cup squad announcement at the swanky Multichoice headquarters in Randburg. The organisers went all out and gave the fans a treat and a spectacular send-off to the players.
And to repeat what Deputy Minister of Sports Arts and Culture Nocawe Mafu said during her Women’s Day speech, “the occasion was smelling of money”.
Clearly, and obviously, the event did not cost a few shillings; Springbok jerseys were given out, the broadcast, the makeshift studio and the production were world class. The food was gourmet stuff and even the drinks were top of the range – it was a bit of a show.
The Boks players were draped in SA colours, the green blazers and gold lining. They were handed their real caps as their names were being called out.
Makazole Mapimpi outshone captain Siya Kolisi and drew the loudest cheers from the crowd. When they were posing for the team photos, the players resembled soldiers who were going to represent their country with passion and confidence – they looked the part.
Sadly, the same cannot be said of the send off for our football national teams. Things have ostensibly turned for the worst.
What was expected to be a Fifa World Cup send off match for Banyana Banyana against Botswana at the Tsakane Stadium turned out to be an embarrassing nightmare. A tools downs ensued and the Banyana players refused to take the field. They were then walloped 5-0 after a cobbled up team of unknown players was assembled…only in Mzansi!
Safa and the team’s main sponsors Sasol completely missed the World Cup boat. They were oblivious to the razzmatazz, the fanfare and the excitement that is usually associated with World Cup tournaments. There was no hype, no song and dance about SA making their way to Australia and New Zealand. There was no jersey launch or any activations and marketing
gimmicks – everything was just run-of-the mill. Fans only saw the beautiful new black kit when the girls played their opening match against Sweden.
South Africans are known for turning it up, like the comical moment in 2010 prior to the kick-off of the Fifa World Cup when a massive bus parade took place in Sandton. Then coach Carlos Alberto Parreira was so stunned that he questioned how we can have a party before the tournament. We did not care, we just love to party, we carried on grooving. We were knocked out in the first round and rewrote history books – that’s us Mzansi people.
To say that Banyana’s arrival from the tournament was shambolic is an understatement. The association has become the Lionel Messi when it comes to bungling. We understand the reasons for the team flying in dribs and drabs but for the players to snub the media and walk away did not enhance reputation, the little that is left of Safa, any good.
Things have been going south at Safa for some time now, and with every debatable presidential elections, with every honorarium paid to NEC members, with the many failures to qualify for major tournaments, with every retrenchments, with every Fifa 2010 legacy fund exposé, with every sponsor pulling out, with every CEO resigning and with every squabble with the PSL over players. We can go on until Bafana Bafana win the World Cup, the association needs to check itself.
Sponsors would not want to be associated with a team that, even when it has made history and reached the Last 16 stage of a Fifa World Cup, that is attracting negative
coverage and is always in the news for the wrong reasons.
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