Cape Town – I’m a sucker for a good true-life sports movie where the underdog prevails against the odds at the end of the day.
The 2006 motion picture Glory Road is right up there in my all-time top five sports movies. And it was rather ironic that it was on television on Wednesday night when I got home – a day after Bafana Bafana beat Spain 1-0 at FNB Stadium.
You see, Glory Road, according to Wikipedia, “is based on a true story surrounding the events leading up to the 1966 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship.
“Don Haskins, portrayed by Josh Lucas, is the head coach of the Texas Western College, a team with an all-black starting line-up, a first in NCAA history.”
The “Miners” go all the way to the National finals after rising above adversity, which included racism on and off the basketball court. They then beat the University of Kentucky for the championship in the 1966 final.
This result is still referred to as one of the biggest upsets in sports history. Not only basketball – all sport.
Bafana’s win over world champions Spain isn’t quite as big as the Miners’ feat – nobody’s going to make a movie about it. But the result still ranks up there as one of the biggest upsets of our time. It’s like the Namibian rugby team beating a full-strength All Blacks side, or Steve Waugh’s great Australian cricket team losing a Test match to Bangladesh.
It certainly was a grand night for South African football against a Spanish team littered with some of the top players of our generation. I mean, my kid would have been named after Andres Iniesta if my wife didn’t strong-arm me.
Admittedly Spain were a bit off-colour, and bar the first 20 minutes played with the intensity of a dog loitering around on a summer’s day in Upington. But it’s Spain and they are still the best football team on the planet.
But, however great that result was, it’s still just a little paint over the many cracks that has started to become bigger and bigger in the South African football house.
The win over Spain will give coach Gordon Igesund and the national team a big boost ahead of next’s year’s African Nations Cup qualifiers. But it still doesn’t mask the fact that South African football is in crisis.
Our youth development is shocking, the standard of football is terrible and the national team haven’t qualified for any major tournament outside Mzansi’s borders since 2008.
Bafana don’t even have a technical sponsor at the moment, and it was rather embarrassing that our players played against Spain without some sort of embroidery on the jersey with the match date and the opponents’ name on it.
Bafana also played in the jersey of their old technical sponsor, prompting comedian Siv Ngesi to tweet: “Bafana wearing Puma who cancelled their sponsorship, is like an ex-wife still wearing her ring after a divorce!”
The win over Spain is massive, and it should be used by Danny Jordaan and Safa as the stepping stone to get our football back on track.
And maybe, just maybe Bafana will also have a happy ending like the 1966 Texas Western Miners.
TWEETS OF THE WEEK
@IIKHUNE_32_16: Thanx a lot for all the love and support.i salute each and everyone of y’all.keep believing in Bafana.we won’t fail you guys.God is Great!!
@ABdeVilliers17: Bafana Bafana you beauties!!! What a great win. #BafanaVsSpain
WHO TO FOLLOW
@BernardParker: The Bafana Bafana striker was outstanding against Spain on Tuesday night.
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