Take stock of soccer

THE recent drubbing of the national soccer team by Brazil really worries a lot of citizens such as myself. Me thinks what needs to be done is some stocktaking.

The mirages like the 2010 World Cup hosting was just that – a hosting, a political decision at least better than the false offsets promised by one of the worst decisions that will haunt our economy ... it was a feel-good way of trying to unite the country.

Funny we don't have to even look at other countries for solutions. Just look at how our rugby-playing counterparts in South Africa do it. We need to have soccer-playing schools, a Craven Week of soccer contested by provincial teams. Soccer cannot be a Soweto/Gauteng monopoly.

What is Danny Jordaan doing for his home turf – the Bay and province? We have Benni McCarthys here, they need to be discovered and nurtured.

Sport is part of one's education. Even in the US, youth from deprived inner cities get scholarships to American Ivy League colleges to showcase, develop and make a living out of their natural athletic talents.

We must create chances for our youth to make it and if it's not in the classroom, let it be on the field. Sometimes you are more able to concentrate on reading books when you are older than when you are young.

When you are young, you want to be active. There is even no need of academies for they will fail for lack of funding. Let's have schools of soccer like rugby.

Pat Kondile, PE