ABOUT a week ago South Africa’s Sport minister Fikile Mbalula made headlines when he lambasted Bafana Bafana for their lacklustre performance on the soccer field in their Group A clash against Nigeria.
After a 3-1 harrowing defeat they were knocked out of the qualifying round of the African Nations Championship (Chan).
This failure was made even more poignant because in the same breadth the Warriors went on to qualify, a most unexpected accomplishment.
Until now the Warriors have had a poor showing in soccer tournaments.
However, the country was united in untold pride when the boys beat Mali 2-1 to proceed to the semi-finals. Who will forget Kuda Mahachi, our orange haired golden boy worked his magic on the field? Nor the tenacity of play displayed by Peter Rio Moyo?
The Warriors qualifying stirred in me that warm loving feeling which I had last felt back in the ’90s when our “Dream Team” was led by the sexy Reinhard Fabisch.
I remember vividly that dazzling team with the stellar line-up of Bruce Grobelaar, Peter Ndlovu, Ephraim Chawanda, Francis Shonayi, Benjamin Nkonjera Rahman Gumbo, Agent Sawu and Henry McKop.
For a minute there I thought the Warriors were going to bring back the glory of the yesteryear only to lose to Libya through penalty shoot-outs.
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The disappointment was palpable and real. However, we comfort ourselves with the fact that it was a major stride for the Warriors to get as far as they did and they played a sterling game.
However, they have most certainly built in us great expectations and we hope to see more of that superb play in the future. Supporting any team is an emotional rollercoaster journey.
Victory leaves a sweet and lingering feeling in our hearts but defeat can be debilitating and frustrating, especially when it appears to happen in succession.
Ask any Manchester United fan how they feel nowadays with the team’s poor-showing in the Premier League.
It is for this reason that spectators and supporters almost feel abused by the teams we support. This is why I had empathy for the minister Mbalula. Yes his criticism might have been harsh calling the team “a bunch of losers” and said their play was mediocre at best.
We all know Bafana has not had a great track record on the soccer field. If South Africa had not been the host nation for the World Cup they would not have gotten the honorary qualification.
Even then they failed to get past the first round.
They failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) 2012 in Gabon. They were eliminated in the quarter finals of Afcon 2013 which once again they were the hosts. To add icing to the cake they also failed to qualify for the World Cup 2014 in Brazil.
The smell of failure continually clouds some of the moderate successes which the team has achieved, the last of which was beating Spain in a friendly match.
The South African Football Players’s Union secretary-general chastised the Sport minister for his comments claiming that Mbalula was supposed to “play the role of the father figure”.
The father figures I know set you straight when you are doing wrong and sometimes their words are unkind. As a child I would be berated and chastised for poor performance. Where I excelled, I was praised and encouraged.
However we now live in an era where tough love is not encouraged and failure should be sugar coated with syrupy sweet nothings. Then off course some will come out and say a team is only as good as its leadership.
I am sure the Manchester United fans will agree as they are baying for Scotsman’s David Moyes’ blood after the subsequent losses the team has suffered at his hands. This would also mean that the tenure of Gordon Igesund as Bafana Bafana coach hangs in the balance when his contract expires in six months.
However, is it really fair to blame the teacher when the student fails? Ultimately teachers can only impart knowledge and skill, but the student has to write the exam and demonstrate ability.
Bafana Bafana has had several coaches . . . were they all bad? Would the team do much better if Jose Mourinho led it? I don’t know but people are tired of that losing feeling . . . bring back that winning feeling!
Sukoluhle Nyathi is the author of the novel The Polygamist. You can follow her on Twitter @SueNyathi
