The Sunday Mail
RONALD “Rooney” Chitiyo’s imminent departure for South Africa’s National First Division side Royal Eagles has once again stirred the debate that usually surrounds Zimbabwean players’ movement across the Limpopo.
There is no doubt Chitiyo has been one of the best players on show in the local Premiership for the past three years and his transfer from Zimbabwean champions Dynamos to a team playing in the South African second-tier league has raised stink.
Former Warriors captain and one of the best players on show at the 2014 CHAN finals Partson Jaure, 2012 Soccer Star of the Year Denver Mukamba have all been lost to lowly South African sides in recent times.
Jaure is even struggling to make the first team at bottom of the table side University of Pretoria, while Mukamba struggled at Bidvest Wits and has only recently started having some game time at AmaTuks.
A number of theories have been proffered in an attempt to dissect this growing trend which has also directly affected the national team’s performances.
Are the local players, most of whom are frustrated by the prevailing playing environment which is not conducive and prevalent among the local clubs, getting more desperate for “any foreign move?”
The deteriorating administration standards at our clubs, some of which have been turned into “rural institutions” that cannot consistently pay salaries and bonuses, have left the players taking whatever is on the table.
Or has the South African top-flight league finally overtaken the local Premiership in terms of competitiveness to an extent that our best players cannot easily march into Super Diski giants Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns?
The Super Diski, now one of the best run and remunerating leagues in the world, has seen a huge influx of foreign players of West African origin and other parts of the world, leading some to believe this has stiffened competition for the quota of limited five foreign slots.
Whereas in 2011, West Africans contributed just over 10 percent of the foreign players. Today, about 25 percent of players who come from Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo are strewn across the Super Diski clubs.
With sponsorship and TV rights figures exceeding $300 million and clubs paying hefty monthly salaries, the Super Diski magnet can now attract players from as far afield as Belgium, Georgia, Netherlands and Serbia.
Zimbabwe’s renowned player agent and a major broker of local players’ deals with South Africa clubs, Gibson Mahachi, shared his view with The Sunday Mail on the issue.
“When crafting a move for any player to a foreign league, firstly we have to look at how competitive that particular league is and how well-sponsored it is.
“Locally, our clubs are not well-sponsored and that forces them to lose some of their best players.
“We have to also understand that the South African Premier Soccer League is now undoubtedly one of the best leagues in the world and any team in that league is quiet competent . . . football there has greatly improved over the years and they are now miles ahead of us.
“The clubs down there have great facilities and great sponsorship deals and it is not easy for our players to readily adapt to these facilities and style of play,” says Mahachi.
The player agent, however, defended some of the moves, saying they created a passage for players.
“Joining the so-called small clubs in SA helps the Zimbabwean player to express himself to the Super Diski without too much pressure and once the players settle and prove himself, they can then move to bigger clubs.
“Cuthbert Malajila joined Maritzburg from Dynamos and proved himself before joining Mamelodi Sundowns, Khama (Billiat) from Ajax Cape Town to Sundowns and Willard Katsande’s breakthrough at Chiefs having passed through Ajax are some examples,” he said.
Mahachi also agreed that the financial state of the local clubs was also forcing players out, at any given opportunity.
“Also that remember the money in South Africa is good and a football career is short.”
Mahachi’s sentiment could be buttressed by the fact that FC Platinum, the highest-paying club in the local Premiership, have consistently managed to retain their key players and at one time battled with SA clubs for the signature of Botswana national team striker Joel Mogorosi.
Another acclaimed player agent Edzai Kasinauyo, the man behind Chitiyo’s deal, believes what is important is for a player to join a team where he gets regular football, regardless of the size and achievement of that club.
“From a football sense, you can play anywhere, for any club in the world and still get noticed. What is important is if the player gets to play regularly and magnify his exposure.
“In some cases, we look at the business side of the deal; the players have to earn a living by kicking that ball in a short period of about 10 years; so, making hay when the sun still shines can be wise.
“The other issue, I am afraid to say, is that standards of local football have fallen . . . we no longer have exceptional players who can easily break into the big clubs in SA. I do not want to torch controversy, but that is the sad truth,” he says.
Kasinauyo, who played for eight years in the SA Premiership between 2000 and 2008, featuring for Ajax Cape Town, Hellenic FC and Moroka Swallows, is worried the huge influx of the physically superior West African players into the Super Diski could affect the local players’ chances big time.
“Before, the West Africans were not comfortable coming down South, it is more expensive than crossing into Europe and also the language barrier, but now they are coming.
“This is creating more pressure and competition for those five foreign slots. It also means the clubs in the Super Diski are no longer patient with our players even during trials because they know they have a huge number of good players queuing up,” said Kasinauyo.
