Safa's policy on Radebe to haunt SA football

So the SA Football Association (Safa) and English club Leeds United have reached a compromise, permitting Bafana Bafana skipper Lucas Radebe to continue his international soccer career. How noble of them!

Which visually-impaired administrator dreamt up that one? Even worse, which gullible journalists fell for the official line when the reality is that Safa have made a deal which will return to haunt them, again and again?

We await similar discussions over the futures of Shaun Bartlett, Mark Fish, Quinton Fortune, Pierre Issa and Mark Fish, all of whom happen to play for English clubs. Having seen Leeds' hardline approach rewarded, what will the demands of Charlton, Manchester United and Chelsea be if they are not to 'retire' from international soccer? One-nil to the English. Shades of Neville Chamberlain returning with his famous "peace in our time" speech that, far from averting further conflict, merely encouraged Hitler to continue grabbing land in Europe before World War 2.

Can you imagine Inter Milan telling striker Ronaldo he would have to choose between them and Brazil - Manchester United employing similar tactics with French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez or Roma trying to persuade striker Gabriel Batistuta to call time on his appearances for Argentina. They wouldn't have a hope in hell, nor would they ever contemplate such a thought.

Hell, it's not as if our players regularly go AWOL after returning home for international matches a la the Nigerians, so the European clubs can't even use that as an excuse.

Safa, who moaned ceaselessly that the decision to award the 2006 World Cup finals to Germany exacerbated the chasm between the haves and have nots, have revealed the depth of their commitment to the cause - and caved in at the first hint of a fight.

Their payola is in the form of a friendly international against England, this November or next winter, before the 2002 World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea. Two-nil to the English.

Safa claim to have ensured Radebe's continued involvement at the highest level. But closer examination will show that he will only play international soccer when it suits Leeds, not necessarily when his country needs him most. Three-nil to the English.

A club spokesman made that point crystal clear.

"We accept when there are international dates in the football calendar the player will be available for South Africa," he suggested, before getting to the crux of the matter. "However, where there is a clash of important games between the two sides, he will stay and play for us. When we play Manchester United and Real Madrid in early March, Lucas will stay and play for us rather than for South Africa (in a top of the table World Cup qualifier) against Guinea."

Radebe is unlikely to feature in another African Nations Cup match as Safa have acknowledged that the squad will predominantly be drawn from home-based players.

Besides, the club would probably fall back on the dubious argument that long-haul flights to South Africa would aggravate his wonky knee if they felt Radebe needed a break before his club's next match. Four-nil to the English.

He may not feature in too many World Cup fixtures either. Take the likely scenario of Radebe, Bartlett and Issa being unavailable for the clash with Guinea in Durban next month because of club commitments. Throw in a few injuries (Fortune is already crocked) and you have a seriously depleted Bafana squad which might not even qualify for Japan and South Korea.

We all know that world soccer needs to synchronise its worldwide fixture list, but what Leeds have done to Radebe is blackmail, plain and simple.

There's no other word for it, and Safa shouldn't try and claim otherwise.

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