Are paper coaches really the answer?

Bafana Bafana suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of lowly Southern African neighbours Zimbabwe last week, while the weekend saw the Premiership top-three sides play to a goalless draw, and Orlando Pirates stumbling against Bidvest Wits.

But while the BafanaBafana defeat and the goalless draws point to our lack of strike power in South African soccer, it might not be a solution to ban coaches from the bench if they do not have formal coaching accreditation.

The South African Football Association (SAFA) has announced that this ruling will come into effect in 2013/2014. But will this mean that Jomo Sono, a former BafanaBafana coach, will be disallowed or banned because he has no regular coaching certificate?

He told the Sunday Times: “If I can serve on the Fifa World Cup technical committee, do you think I need a piece of paper, a certificate to prove that I can coach,” he asked.

“I don’t know how a licence or certificate make you a better coach,” Sono told the Sunday Times. “I’ve seen people with degrees who can’t coach in the Premier Soccer League. If it is for the betterment of football, I’ll support it and step aside from coaching.

“But those rules must also apply to administrators. Some of them cost the country big time when they couldn’t read the rules when Bafana failed to qualify for Afcon 2012. Yet reading the rules is the easiest thing on earth,” he added.

Instead of a dogmatic approach to coaching certificates, South African soccer needs the involvement of more former BafanaBafana players, especially those who were in action during the mid-summer of South Africa’s finest era in African-soccer, from 1995 to 1997.

Sono had a useful record as BafanaBafana coach, and there are certain things you would not be able to teach a coach. It is as daft to remove him from the bench as it would be in withdrawing Jacob Zuma from the presidency because there is no matric certificate in his study room.

Did you need to give Kitch Christie a coaching manual and order him out of the Springbok dressing room because he did not possess a certificate? If we did, the Boks might not have united the Rainbow Nation in 1995 by winning the Webb Ellis Trophy.

Of course, the same is true about the Springboks in 2007 under Jake White. It is not always about the technical expertise and the knowledge according to the ‘manual’, but the street wisdom, the ability to motivate players, and the expertise to get the best out of the team. Also, the management of people is not necessarily best handled by somebody with the right technical credentials.

Talking about credentials, SAFA will have to address their woeful administrative record and also appoint people with the necessary administrative and financial capabilities into key positions.

Things have not gone according to plan lately, and they need an urgent indaba to improve the quality of local PSL-matches, in order to address the dwindling attendance figures.

The total revenue was raised from R546 million in the 12 months to July 31 last year, to R581 million this year.

Yet, the Premier Soccer League could just register a profit of R3,6 million this year, up from R1,4 million in 2010.

Their revenue was boosted by gate-takings from Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates-matches.

Kaizer Motaung, the PSL finance chairman, admitted that there were a lot of worries about the empty stadiums at matches which did not feature Chiefs and Pirates.

There are clubs that draw paltry crowds of 500 spectators, like Black Leopards and Free State Stars at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, according to the Business Day.

Motaung points to the fact that perhaps fans are spoilt by choice and can watch too much television, and that is why they stay home and do not go to stadiums in large numbers.

They can watch anything from English, Spanish, German and Brazilian football matches without moving from the comfort of their homes.

Unfortunately, SAFA won’t be able to strangle the golden goose that lays the eggs that revive their financial fortunes.

Differently stated, it is TV that enables them to stave off possible financial gloom. The Premier Soccer League signed a new broadcast deal with SuperSport International in August that is worth more than R2 billion in five years.

Ultimately, the solution to the problem lies in improving the marketing of PSL games, and in improving the quality of strikers in PSL-games.

Fans are interested in colourful characters and in goals. Three goalless draws will not exert much pulling power.

Neither of course, would the absence of top-coaches like Sono, be instrumental in improving the quality of the PSL.