If I was still naïve, I would say that the South African Football Association (Safa) technical director Walter Steenbok is a breath of fresh air. I am not going to because I know that hot air and Safa go together like Kool-Aid and sugar.
Since I started covering football in 2001, I have heard them all – they came in many shapes and forms. We listened to them, absorbed all the gobbledegook and got excited, only to be disappointed and left high and dry as the SA national teams declined further towards a state of obscurity and became a laughingstock on the continent.
Steenbok seems a tad confident, something that has been lacking from his predecessors.
He appears to have a good |understanding of the local game – he also dishes out some admirable fighting talk.
This past week, he led Safa’s onslaught onto the Premier Soccer League (PSL). He was vocal and forthright when he declared that as Safa, football in the country is their territory and they do not need the permission of PSL clubs to implement some of their proposals that were discussed at the Safa football indaba this weekend. All of a sudden, Safa have grown a pair and are taking the cash flush PSL head on.
For many years, PSL bosses in Parktown have been condescending towards Safa – but now they are retreating and calling for the Minister of Sport Zizi Kodwa and CAF president Patrice Motsepe to intervene.
The clubs would release players to Safa for national duty whenever they felt like. The league would not budge on requests to reschedule fixtures to accommodate various national teams.
And now, a couple of issues seem to be making the PSL uncomfortable. The national association is steadfast about outstanding matters such as club licensing, which most clubs in the league do not comply with.
Other burning issues are the coaches’ qualifications, or lack thereof, and the Diski Challenge, which Safa argues was mooted as a development league.
The tables are turning and Safa are showing the PSL who the custodians of football in the country are.
These are some of the traits that a technical director requires, unlike some of those who came before him – like Horst Kriete, Serame Letsoaka and Neil Tovey, who did not contribute much to the cause of the SA national teams.
Having said all this, does Steenbok understand the terrain and the minefield that he is treading on?
He probably isn’t cognisant of the uncharted waters he is entering but we admire him for having the gonads to kick-start the conversation.
“My presentation will be aggressive, and I hope the president (Danny Jordaan) will give me support at the weekend,” Steenbok said on Thursday.
“My proposal will be strict, and it is going to cut across up to the PSL.
“One of the things that we want to enforce is also the CAF Club Licensing – in the PSL, we must be clear that all coaches must have a CAF A Licence,” said Steenbok.
“Teams do not have to buy into this, it is legislation and we (Safa) must enforce it – this is our territory, we are in charge and we need to go to the congress and say this should have been done long time ago.
“Who is coaching our players? It means the players are on their own – if you have Musa Nyatama (Swallows FC) as a coach who is only qualified with CAF C Licence, or Morgan Mammila as technical director, it means the players are on their own.
“You go to Golden Arrows, the two coaches there (Vusu-muzi Vilakazi and Mabhuti Khenyeza) do not have anything, and why do we expect our players to go and play in Europe. When are we going to make the right noises? We need to tell the PSL this is killing our football.
“Also, why do we have coaches from abroad who have not won anything in 10-15 years?”
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