The local media is pathetic. And predictable. Indeed, the only thing more predictable than the media's Joel Santana bashing is the Brazilian's side failing to take world football by storm.
Even the South African Football Association has taken issue with the way the nation's hacks have reported on the national team in recent times.
On Tuesday, SAFA circulated a statement that slammed media for 'misleading the public' and asked them 'to exercise patience and kindly cease the endless speculation and allow the role players an opportunity to conduct a proper assessment' of Santana.
A quick trawl through the Internet throws up various examples of local journalists' laziness and inability to properly interrogate Bafana's recent form and the latest defeat to Iceland.
The South Africa Press Association was one of the culprits with their mindless rambling. 'It does not take a rocket scientist to see what is wrong and that Santana needs a one way ticket to Brazil,' read their match report from Reykjavik
The report added, 'Santana persisted with his ultra defensive formation utilising his out dated two defensive midfielders in Macbeth Sibaya and Kagisho Dikgacoi' (sic).
This statement leads me to conclude that whomever wrote this drivel didn't actually watch the match. And there's no surprise that there is no byline on this embarrassing writing that certainly can't be called 'journalism' - it is that bad.
Criticising Santana for being too defensive offers irrefutable evidence that the writer, nay the rest of the media, who also insist on firing broadsides at the Bafana boss for fielding two defensive midfielders, know absolutely nothing about modern football.
The side Santana sent out against Iceland is the most attack-minded starting XI he has ever selected. True, the holding midfielders Dikgacoi and Sibaya were deployed, but four members of the team were given liberty to attack in Franklyn Cale, Teko Modise and the two strikers.
SAPA, and the rest of the idiots writing on the back pages and sports websites, have a bizarre addiction to questioning Santana for fielding the two defensive mids - something that is standard practice the world over from Munich to Rio di Janeiro.
There's nothing outdated about this strategy, nor is it ultra-defensive. At the Confederations Cup Dunga's Brazil utilised two defensive players in the middle of the park (Gilberto Silva and Felipe Melo) and one defence-minded wide man (Ramires).
It worked as it gave Selecao's attacking trident of Kaka, Robinho and Luis Fabiano scope to do what they do best. In the English Premier League - the most followed championship in the world - even teams like Manchester United and Liverpool are aware that a midfield defensive duo allows attackers the freedom of expression. The Reds employ Javier Mascherano and Lucas to this end, which gives the likes of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres the chance to wreak havoc upfront.
But it is not only the local media's inability to offer insightful analysis that has me riled. Soccer Laduma, South Africa's highest circulating football newspaper, couldn't even get the basic facts right on their website.
Their match report for the Iceland match talks about 'Theko Modise' and laments that the team 'has now failed to score in their last four fixtures', somehow forgetting that Bafana scored just three matches ago against Madagascar.
Nonetheless, the media is quick to slate Bafana Bafana for winning one in nine and languishing 73rd in the FIFA rankings. But if there were global rankings for our quality of journalism, I'd suggest we'd be even lower down the ladder than the national team.
richard.ferraris@teamtalkmedia.co.za
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Football365.co.za's users have had their say about this topic
Kabelo Thakadu writes:It's a classical case of when things go right nobody remembers but when they go wrong every one is ready to screw you. I think it can be fair to say our local journos' reports are clouded by their love for their country. This is also the general mood on buses, taxis, trains and shebeens. It's a fact that where one's love is involved it's very hard to be objective hence the subjective reporting. I am in no way defending them mind you. They need to make noise about Bafana's woes as a result of SAFA's failure to focus on development and soccer administrators greed in general and a lack of vision from SAFA.
They should be asking why a failure who got fatter and fatter in office is bestowed a life time presidency. He only makes noise about bringing the WC to Mazansi during his tenure - Duh!!! He failed where his main mandate was, in my opinion, development.
Response: You're spot on about the erstwhile SAFA president Molefi Olifant, he certainly failed to steer the nation's football in the right direction. Development remains the most pressing issue in the local game and I'd definitely encourage administrators to look beyond the 2010 World Cup. Football won't end in July next year after the WC final, we need to remain cognisant of that and keep preparing for the future.
I also agree that the media is reflecting the sentiment of the man on the street. But I would ask both journalists and fans to think about the bigger picture.
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Khotso Modise writes: Richard where do you come from and where have you been all along. You article on Mocking the Media is the best piece of analysis I have read about our football media ever. I share your disgust at the stupidity of people who purport to be sports journalist. Where the hell do they get of writing about the subject they are so clueless about. Just last week I was so 'pieced off' with a another publication.
Some journalists can't get original stories from players and coaches anymore just because in their moment of comfort they wrote unfounded stupid stories just to fill pages. This is poor work and should be condemned. They have their own opinions and should keep them to themselves and report facts and views derived there from.
The problem with these fools is they write without consequences - and feed the Nation Bullshit. That you name and quote them has impressed me even more. Good Work Richard keep the topic going, who knows people may start choosing what they read.
Response: You hit the nail on the head with this line: (Journalists should) 'report facts and views derived therefrom.'
This is a big problem in the local press and from what I have seen, many writers are unable to tell the difference between fact, justified opinion (which is what F365.co.za aims to offer) and outright fiction.
It saddens me that the quality of local reporting and writing is so low, South African fans deserve better.
Your Comments
deemper
"Great article Richard. You forgot to mention that Sowetan updates their sports page after 11h00 while waiting to google stories from elsewhere. As for Soccer-Laduma, I can write a book about the journo's grammatical, factual and even farcical errors!
David Bullard once wrote a great article about Mondli Makhanya's modus operandi at Sunday Times. Here is an excerpt from that article:
"When I was still working at the Sunday Times I had a huge showy desk for several years right outside the editor's office. On Thursday the honchos would start to think about what was going to go into that week's paper. They would unashamedly pick a victim and decide to put the boot in, irrespective of the accuracy of their information. A favourite victim was Jacob Zuma but others included Ronald Suresh Roberts and Jake White.
Mondli Makhanya, the Jorrocks of the newsroom, would sound the hunting horn and we would all go off to write some poisonous invective about that week's chosen quarry, comfortable in the knowledge that, even if we were sued, the case would take ages to come to court and the shareholders would pay anyway. That's why the term "journalistic integrity" is an oxymoron."
These days, the Jorrocks of the newsroom has unleashed all the dogs to bay for Santana's blood and more pressing issues have been shoved to the back while buying time for the fat cats to amass as much money as possible at the expense of football development."
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