Safa Cape Town has some serious introspection to do if it wants to be taken seriously in the future – especially on the media and marketing front.
The time has come for this organisation to be exposed and for its inadequacies and shortcomings to be spoken about, especially when it comes to its organisational skills and the running of its events.
And this is not done to stamp on Safa – it is done to try and uplift the organisation and to help create something that everybody can be proud of – and can take seriously moving forward.
It is not a RED card, but more like a YELLOW card where a warning is given with the hope that it will open the eyes of people running this organisation.
The ‘Football 4 Humanity’ solidarity initiative, under the auspices of the Mother Body, not only showed how galvanized Capetonians are when it comes to Palestine, but it also exposed the region big time with an event of this magnitude.
The historic international match between a Western Cape XI and the Palestinian national team had the tongues wagging for the humanitarian cause, however, the lack of leadership, foresight and organisation skills on the media side, left local and international media with irritation and utter disgust.
It was so poorly and unprofessionally run, that the national broadcaster, the SABC, turned its back on the event and left the premises with more questions than answers for the unceremonious manner they were treated. Things were so bad that the national government had to step in to remedy the situation.
The wheels started to fall off on Friday already when various media houses showed up at the Athlone Stadium to collect their respective accreditations – only to be told that it was not ready because the machine printing the accreditation cards, broke. In this day and age, it is unacceptable and this excuse does not hold any weight.
This after the region assured all respective media it will be ready at the given date. Another aspect where the region failed was the lack of control and scrutiny of the media invited or those who applied to cover the event. There were no proper measures put in place to gauge who was who in the zoo.
It is no secret that ‘glory hunters’ and ‘avid clickers’ who popped up at the Athlone Stadium used this platform for self-benefit and glory-hunting while the real McCoys were treated badly and sent from pillar to post.
That said, it was fantastic to see some old and familiar faces such as the legendary Sharief Jaffer and Noor Slamdien rolling back the years with camera in hand.
But there were also local ‘media’ never seen before, not to mention others who used this occasion to gain more clout and popularity despite not having the faintest clue about what journalism entailed. This showed afterward, as one of the biggest talking posts on the “media chat group” was the lack of food for those working as journalists.
The fact that Safa Cape Town did not have proper control and allowed anybody to jump on the bandwagon as media, is another indictment on the organisation.
Some thought they could cut corners and ‘copy and paste’ the blueprint used for the amateur cup competitions, shows not only the ignorance and naivety, but they are clearly out of their depth.
These matters will only get the necessary attention if something drastic should unfold as proactivity does not exist in the planning process as shown by the region.
Needless to say, they became the laughing stock and it was the narrative behind the scenes after the first match.
Going forward Safa CT must have a critical look at itself and address the issues that have been plaguing the region for a while now. It is only when they admit and acknowledge there are challenges, that a solution to remedy the situation can be found.
In the meantime – the second match involving the Palestinians will be taking place in Athlone this Sunday – and the hope can only be that it will be remembered for all the right reasons.
One Response
Opportunists one will find in all spheres of life. They are the narcissists who protect their parochial self-interest at the expense of forgetting the purpose of certain events. They look forward to tgese events, licking their lips, as they gun for their own selfish gain, detracting from the real issue. They offer excuses by means of meaningless rhetoric, in essence, justifying their greed. Their words become a hollow sound as their motive, ie. propelling themselves into the spotlight, is paramount. For them it’s all or nothing, crying “previously disadvantaged” as if the world owes them something. Entitlement is probably the apt word. Wow, pride is a rare phenomenon these days.