LOCAL is lekker, it is often said. A phrase that probably every adult South African has used at some point.
The problem though is that at times this phrase is detrimental as we also tend to use it to support our decisions to “keep things local” even when it would do us a world of good to look externally.
To cut to the chase - that is one of the problems facing South African football at the moment; domestic clubs are keeping it too local when it comes to the appointment of coaches especially in the Premiership.
Yes, indeed times are tough out there for anyone, so why would a journalist like myself, who is living with endless job threats from AI and social media tools, advocate for local teams to overlook local coaches and chase after foreigners?
Firstly, we cannot overlook the fact that the continuous trend of recycling the same coaches across four, five or six clubs or even firing and rehiring the same coaches in any particular club, is not doing local football any good.
Bafethu… What if Lehlohonolo Seema goes to Kaizer Chiefs? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/KvZVM56Jcy
— Cellular® (@Cellular_jnr) November 13, 2023
This practice has left Premier Soccer League (PSL) standards stagnant as there are not many new ideas and trends filtering through that would grow our players and elevate our style of play.
This has led to teams moving in cycles with the same brand of football they play and it has become a little old in some aspects.
To put things into perspective; just last week we woke up to news that Sekhukhune United, a club that is having a good season considering that they are in the mix for a top four finish and are in the quarter-finals of the Nedbank Cup, have fired the coach in Lehlohonolo Seema.
The fact that they fired him on the eve of their Nedbank Cup semi final clash against log leaders is not so much the point at this stage.
However the fact that a few days later, they replaced him with a coach, Eric Tinkler, who was fired by another local club, Cape Town City, less than three months ago after a string of poor results, is a matter in point.
As we speak, there are reports that Seema could himself resurface at Chippa United.
Chippa themselves recently re-united with Morgan Mammila, who now takes a sporting director role.
Swallows FC would like to welcome
Morgan Mammila as a Technical Advisor to the Dube Birds.#SwallowsFC pic.twitter.com/lcaJOTGIVO
In his new role Mammila is reported to be responsible for player recruitment, overseeing the technical team and strengthening development and reserve structures.
The soap opera gets more dramatic with other reports coming out saying Sekhukhune fired Seema after they felt betrayed that the coach and his agent were negotiating with Richards Bay behind their backs!
The Sekhukhune club bosses were not happy and they dismissed the Lesotho-born coach because they did not want to be caught by surprise without a plan B.
The question is why was the former Bloemfontein Celtic-Black Leopards-Chippa- Polokwane City and Golden Arrows coach negotiating with another club whilst having a running contract with another club, in which he was doing well with?
Tinkler himself is a former Orlando Pirates-Chippa-Maritzburg United-SuperSport United and two-time Cape Town City coach.
Not all clubs can afford the big European imports but since we are unable to export our players to that side, maybe the presence of the likes of the Spaniard Jose Riviero at Pirates and the Portuguese Miguel Cardoso at Mamelodi Sundowns should teach us something, right?
This I say fully aware that there have been plenty of imported flops in the past, and there also has been some unfair treatment towards the locals.
But change is maybe needed for the sake of growth.
