Total and Utter disaster!

As you read this South Africa are no longer the rugby world cup champions or even going to participate at next year’s AFCON.


At some point I started thinking this was all just a bad dream and my alarm will go off any minute now. Things could not get any worse than this. South Africa is a sporting country. We take our sport as seriously as we take our politics, maybe even more seriously.

Ace Ntsoelengoe and Jomo Sono

When you look at the history of South Africa you will find sport playing a part all the time. During the years of apartheid sport was used to keep South Africa away from the rest of the world. Our best footballers (Jomo Sono), cricketers (Graeme Pollock) and rugby players (Naas Botha) never got a chance to represent their country in a World cup.


When we were readmitted to the world of sport after 1991 sport played a big part in bringing the country together. The 1995 Rugby World Cup and 1996 African Cup of Nations were celebrated by all South Africans.2011 has been an awful year in South African sports as a whole. It started badly with the Proteas getting knocked out at the quarter-finals of the Cricket World Cup. Now this just opens those wounds.

We have to accept defeat because it comes with sport. In any match there has to be a winner and a loser. But what disappoints people a lot is how a team fails to win or the manner of the defeat. As a fan I feel better if my team loses to a better team or superior talented team. What hurts the most is when a team does not perform to their full potential and fails to win. You look at the opposition and just wonder how we lost that game. You think of all the missed opportunities. It leaves you feeling empty inside and even let down by the team.

The Springboks were better than Australia on Sunday. They dominated territory and possession throughout the game. They created more chances to score but just did not take them. We did not lose because Australia was the better side or our players were old or even because of the referee Bryce Lawrence. We simply did not use our opportunities. This is what hurts the most.

Bafana Bafana did not qualify for AFCON 2012 because they failed to beat Sierra Leone at home, in front of their fans. The CAF rules have nothing to do with it. We cannot even blame the pitch or the hotels as we normally do when we play outside the country. This was a home game. Before the game the plan was simple and straight-forward “beat Sierra Leone and collect 3 points”. All the pre-match interviews and analysis were that we have to win the game to give ourselves a chance to qualify. I use the word chance because even a win could have still not guaranteed qualification if Niger had beat Egypt. We had the bulk of possession, created enough scoring chances to get the goal and our defense was solid. How did we not win the game then??? We were happy with a draw. Suddenly the initial plan was changed/modified whatever you might call it. Suddenly a win was not that vital anymore. 

Itumeleng Khune leading the dance moves

We have to look forward and learn from our mistakes. There is talk of vision 2014 when it comes to Bafana Bafana. I think we should be preparing for 2022 right now. Identify players who are around the 11 year old/12 year old age bracket and start preparing them for the World cup in 2022. Start doing some long-term planning for a change because the short-term planning of 4 year cycles has not done us any good.

The Springboks will be back. We wait to see the new coach and new captain. But they are blessed with a lot of young talent waiting for their chance to wear the green and gold. In the meantime lets get behind the Proteas as they take on the Australians this summer. I am looking forward to seeing how Gary Kirsten will do as the new coach. Do not rush to start showing off your new dance moves. Please!