FA’S MISSED OPPORTUNITY!

My dearest readers ... The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

That’s not me saying it but one Albert Einstein. He might as well have had the National Fumblers....er Football Association of Swaziland (NFAS) in mind.

Once again, the football mother body’s Executive Committee met on Friday to deliberate, among other issues, the senior national team, Sihlangu’s participation

in the regional tournament, COSAFA Castle Cup set to start on May 27 May ending on June 9 in Limpopo, South Africa.
In their ‘pearl of wisdom’, the silk-suited souls came up with a list of 25 players, with seven players from the all-conquering Mbabane Swallows Football Club, part of the team expected to represent the country in the regional gong. Last year, in Rustenburg, the then Sihlangu coach, Pieter De Jongh, the worst coach to ever lead the national team, did not have the luck of having the experienced Swallows players as the team was engaged in the CAF Confederation Cup.

It became his favourite ditty at every press conference after every defeat visited upon the nation’s pride.
This State-Of-The-Nation-Sports-Address (SONSA) raised the issue then that it made no sense to decry the absence of Swallows players when the COSAFA Castle Cup is supposed to be a breeding ground to nurture new talent into the rigours of international football like other countries were seamlessly doing. Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa were among the countries that used the COSAFA Castle Cup to bring in new talent to the senior national team fold.

Once again, our FA has missed an opportunity – not for the first time. By insisting in taking as many as seven Swallows players who have not had a rest in the past three seasons inspite of the team coach, Thabo ‘Koki’ Vilakati pleading that they were in the middle of a CAF Champions League campaign, speaks of a desperate Football Association hoping for instant results. It is sheer desperation of trying to get positive results at the expense of development and a bigger picture.

Never mind that the Sihlangu coach, Anthony Mdluli, is a poster child for non-achievement even at women football level; his appointment a shocker in its own right. The FA should have used this opportunity to hire a new coach with a proven track record who was going to use the COSAFA Castle Cup as a breeding ground in building a team for the future.

We have wasted thousands of Emalangeni paying journeyman with no proven track record like the Valere Billen’s and the Pieter De Jongh’s of this world who have taken us to nowhere – fast. We are in a worse situation now because we are back to the jobs-for-pals syndrome which has undermined our football for donkey years.

If you do not belong to certain clique of coaches, you stand no chance of mentoring any of the national squads. Success is a swear word that is not a prerequisite for appointment in any of the national squads. You just have to lick the right boot and wait. This promotes conformity, submissiveness and the culture of boot-licking in our football nay our Tinkhundla system of governance.

Swallows’ award-winning coach, ‘Koki’ Vilakati, is right that his players are not machines but humans who deserve a rest. Besides, the country is on the brink of something good – reaching the knockout stages of the premium CAF Champions League. All this counts for nothing because some people are keen to push their own selfish agendas and not even look at the bigger picture.
For all what is worth, is the FA really expecting the incumbent coach, Anthony Mdluli, to lead us in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers?

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