I received the DSTV sports newsletter this morning, and this gem was in there
"France did notqualify for the 1994 World Cup finals and won the World Cup on home soil in1998. Germany were written off before the 2006 World Cup and they ended third.So I am hopeful Bafana will produce the goods in 2010."
Chairman of the 2010 LocalOrganising Committee, Dr Irvin Khoza responds after FIFA President Sepp Blatterwas critical of Bafana for failing to qualify for the 2010 African Nations Cupfinals.
How confused are you Dr Irvin Khoza. Yes, your statement may be true, but those countries stayed in the top 10 in the world, they did not drop to 70th. Our soccer guys are a bunch of lazy sods. The talent may be there, but I don't see any work ethic whatsoever, all you ever hear is how this one and that one missed the training camp for unspecified reasons, and then still got selected. And where are the enforced quotas in soccer? All the focus always stays on the traditional white sports, but nothing is ever said about the traditional black sports. Let's not make this a racial thing, so I'll end off with another quote out of the same newsletter.
“Politics has no place in sport. You cannot select people forwho they are or who they are not.”
South African sportsmenand women will struggle to compete with the world's best if politicianscontinue to prescribe to them, says Tim Noakes, one of South Africa'sbest-known sports scientists.