The striker executes a bicycle kick with a dexterity that leaves the crowd in awe, only missing the goalposts by a margin. It’s 11.35am on a Sunday, just a few minutes into the match, and an exhilarating atmosphere has engulfed the playing field. As the players pace up and down, names such as Marcelo, Pogba, Firmino, Van Persie, Ronaldo, Iniesta and Buffon occasionally echo through the air, along with those such as Drogba and Eto’o.
One could be forgiven for thinking that this is a match taking place in the Santiago Bernabé* , Anfield, Old Trafford or Camp Nou, the stadiums of Real Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester United and Barcelona football clubs.
But the venue is a dirt soccer ground in Braamfischerville near Dobsonville in Soweto. Each year, more than 40 teams - some from as far as Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal - come here to take part in the Kellogg’s Tsalanang Games soccer tournament, a new version of the once popular Godfrey Moloi soccer tournament in South Africa’s historical township. Among the spectators in the strong crowd are former Bafana Bafana coach Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba and former and current soccer stars such as Arthur Zwane, Abel Shongwe, Steve Sekano, Khethokwakhe Masuku, Rhulani Mokwena and Linda Shiba. Some, like Zwane, have come to scout for raw talent for the team they represent.
Picture:Nokuthula Mbatha/African News Agency/ANA
Judging by the abundance of talent on display here, and the passionate and competitive spirit of the games, it is difficult to imagine just how Bafana Bafana, South Africa’s senior national soccer team, continues to struggle in continental and world football. Eight years since the country hosted the Fifa World Cup tournament, local football remains in the doldrums, with the national team still a shadow of the team that qualified for the 2008 World Cup in France and in Korea in 2002.
For a country boasting the best infrastructure and soccer stadiums on the continent, this is an indictment of the local soccer authorities.
But as Mashaba notes, this should never be the case. And the problem, he says, is the selfsame: the dearth of proper development, especially given the “death of school sports”.
“In South Africa, we still talk about unearthing talent when we talk about a player who is 28 (years). Shakes Mashaba never came out of this tournament, he came out of school soccer. The Jomo Sonos and Ace Ntsoelengoes came out of school football,” says Mashaba, speaking to The Sunday Independent on the sidelines of the the games.
Picture:Nokuthula Mbatha/African News Agency/ANA
“We used to play every Wednesday (at school). And there was so much support then from the government.”
Mashaba was the first coach to take a South African junior national team to a world championship, after the national Under-20 side qualified for the World Youth Championships in Malaysia in 1997. He also took the national Under-23 team to the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Leading up to the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup, and soon thereafter the global showpiece in South Africa, the Department of Sport, Culture and Recreation launched school projects, even spending millions of rand on the programmes. There was even talk of Sport Wednesdays. But all of that appears to have come to nought.
“I am saying I have seen a drawback, including here in Gauteng province. That is the most unfortunate thing, we have ideas and we don’t implement,” Mashaba said.
“We are appealing to Gauteng province to start school sports. If we don’t do that, we will find ourselves lost. We must produce players who can play for the Under-17/19/20 and even Bafana.”
Mashaba decries the tendency by some coaches to stifle local talent by overly using restrictive coaching methods.
Picture:Nokuthula Mbatha/African News Agency/ANA
“I am saying to you coaches, allow these players to show their skills. We need to allow players to rekindle their football, to display their artistry. We need players who can play above the coach,” he says, adding that tournaments like Tsalanang shouldn’t be just about football development, but life skills too.
“Yes, winning trophies is something. But we want the coaches to say this is our legacy. We have to be able to develop players who can walk from the football field into the office. Let’s empower them in life skills. From these raw diamonds, we need to see match officials, administrators and professionals.
“So, it’s not just about football, but a social event to come and meet and talk about the players’ future and what they want to become. It’s also about social responsibility, finance, discipline and so on."
Shongwe lauds the organisers of the tournament. “Tournaments like this one should never be underestimated, because they happen during off-season, when people are bored and thirsty for action locally.
“Besides, it is also an opportunity for young players to showcase their talent with the hope that they could be scouted by the professional teams. It’s about looking at our youngsters, unearthing and identifying players that can play for the national teams and world teams.”
Picture:Nokuthula Mbatha/African News Agency/ANA
Namajabo “Castro” Leshabane, whose business,Tsalanang, is the main sponsor of the tournament, says he is excited about the contribution the event is making towards football and community development.
“When we launched this tournament in 2013, I was surprised by the high number of teams that showed interest and registered to participate. The tournament has grown in leaps and bounds and has become popular in Soweto.
“For us, it’s about soccer development, to contribute towards the identification of the next generation of Bafana Bafana, but most important, to play our part in social development.”
Julian de la Hunt from i2i, one of the sponsors of Tsalanang Games, says: “Many of these players never get recognised, but they are talented and aspire for bigger things on the world stage. So we get scouts from abroad to come here. We are also using the tournament to scout for players and pushing them for Europe and Africa.”