DURBAN - It’s my firm view that if the local soccer bodies and leaders worked to their full potential the South African top-flight could have similar status worldwide as the Scottish Premiership.
The Scottish Premier League is not among Europe’s top five leagues, but it is a respected league globally with strong passion and traditions. Most football fans around the world know about Rangers and Celtic, Scotland’s two main clubs, because of their traditions and passionate fans.
Do majority of people football fanatics in the world know about the existence of Sundowns, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates? In Africa, probably yes but outside Africa, probably no. However, it is certainly possible to change that.
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Here are my suggestions to improve the DStv Premiership:
Honour clubs for social media excellence
Amidst Covid-19 pandemic, it is ultimately essential that clubs in South Africa have excellent social media presence to keep their fans up to date with everything that is happening. Whilst a few Premiership sides have a quality social media presence, the same cannot be said for most of the top-flight clubs.
Outside of the big three (Chiefs, Pirates and Sundowns), fans of the other clubs cannot always be certain that their favourite clubs games will be on TV and so all they can do is check social media.
Most people in South Africa cannot afford online streaming and so it is essential that clubs provide live text commentary via their social media accounts. The reality is that only a handful of clubs do this.
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By clubs not doing this, it more or less means that fans don’t really know what’s happening when they don’t get to see their favourite clubs on TV. By rewarding clubs for excellence in social media, the clubs will be encouraged to put more effort into generating a quality social media presence.
Focus on Africa first, and world second
It’s well-known that our national football team has struggled to be competitive on the international scene since the early 2000s but what’s more is that they struggle for competitiveness and consistency against the top teams in Africa.
Logically, the aim should be to first regain top status on the continent before focusing on international ambitions.
When local clubs can’t find an adequate South African coach, they typically look to a European, usually a journeyman who was not known locally before being hired. They should also look more locally to Algerians, Nigerians, Cameroonians and Ivorians. People from these countries could benefit South Africa a lot considering that their countries are regular World Cup qualifiers and able to hold their own against most nations in world football.
Focus on strategic signings
On paper, it might seem that German clubs are suddenly fond of young English players, hence their sudden mass recruitment of young English talent in recent years. On the other hand, by signing young English talent in big numbers, the Bundesliga is bringing in new viewers which it never had before.
Similarly, the PSL should focus on using strategies such as those being used in Germany in order to grow it’s presence in key strategic growth regions.