Mninawa Ntloko
13 January 2009
Johannesburg — CONTRARY to the stereotypical perception that is widely prevalent in SA, England and Spain are not the only countries with strong football leagues in Europe.
This statement was issued by Prosport International's Mike Makaab yesterday as national soccer team striker Bernard Parker prepared to depart for Serbia to join new club Red Star Belgrade.
Makaab said he was astounded by how ignorant South Africans were about other leagues in the world and he hoped the national soccer team technical staff would not also fall in the same trap.
"It is really high time that we stop being so stereotypical and stop thinking that the leagues we are fed on television (the English and the Spanish leagues) are the best, and the ones we do not see are inferior," Makaab said yesterday.
"The fact is the national soccer team technical staff will not be doing their jobs if they fail to keep themselves up to date with Bernard's progress in Serbia.
"The decision to join Red Star should not hurt his chances of retaining his place in the national team because he will become an even better player."
Parker is still the domestic premiership's top goal scorer with 10 goals and he was expected to reach at least the magical 20 strikes as his side, Thanda Royal Zulu, has played only 15 matches.
Makaab expects to finalise the outstanding paperwork between Thanda and Belgrade in the next 24 hours and the in-demand striker should then be on his way to join his new team-mates in their camp in Cyprus.
Makaab said he was aware that many observers had asked if it would not have been wiser to allow Parker to finish the domestic top-flight season as top scorer and then sell him at an even higher price after making the world aware of his talents at this year's Confederations Cup -- to be held in SA in June.
"When is the ideal time to sell a player? No one can say. The point is a great opportunity came our way that we could not turn down.
"I have seen players, who've turned down offers with a view of eventually leaving at a later stage, end up spending their careers in SA. Bernard is going to be earning the kind of money he would never have dreamt of making in SA."
While Parker is preparing for life in Europe, his team-mates at Thanda Royal are bracing themselves for life without him.
Thanda team manager Thabang Gumede said while the future had become uncertain, they could not stand in the way of their captain's wish to play in Europe.
"As much as this is going to put us in a very difficult situation, we have to be fair to our players if they receive good offers," he said.
Thanda escaped relegation by a whisker last season and they are once again flirting with disaster. Now 12th in the standings, the decision to release Parker may come back to haunt them when the curtain comes down on the season in four months' time.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
