'Sports stars outshined in SA'

So I notice that that parliamentarian loudmouth Butana Khompela is at it again. Yes, the same man that threatened to take away the Springboks passports before the Rugby World Cup last year has now been shouting his mouth off about terminating the contacts of some of the Proteas cricketers who rose up "in mutiny" against CSA president Norman Arendse and refused to sanction the team for Bangladesh.

It seems as though Khompela, who is the chairperson of parliament's sport and recreational portfolio committee, cannot resist playing policeman at a time when CSA are having their own internal battles with meetings to be held this week to sort out the ugly spat which developed between Arendse and his chief executive officer Gerald Majola.

To his credit Majola has stood up to the bully-boy tactics of Khompela and said this week that no players would be fired. He did confirm that there was an inquiry under way that could lead to disciplinary action against players on their return.

Just another week in the life of South African sport and it amazes me that with all the boardroom bulldust that takes place in cricket, rugby and soccer, the players have the motivation and strength to actually go out there and actually manage to win the odd match.

Go to most other countries in the world and read the sports or front page, and you will find the names of the sportsmen and women hogging the headlines.

Pick up a South African newspaper and it is just the opposite. Of course Graeme Smith, Makhaya Ntini, John Smit, Sibusiso Zuma, Ernie Els and Ryk Neethling get their fair share of the headlines, but on any given day it will be administrators like Regan Hoskins, Arendse, Irvin Khoza, Majola and others who seem to make the most noise.

What is it about South African sports administrators that makes them so important that they continually outshine the real stars of the show the players. Without the players the men in blazers (more like Armani suits these days) would not have their cushy jobs which earn them good money, besides the first or business class air tickets, the five star hotels and expense accounts which I am sure allows them to dine and wine in the best restaurants in the world.

Compromise

I know this is an unusual country with a long history of injustices, but there is a way of going about things, holding meetings to find a middle path, compromise solutions and a level head.

Here anyone with a title feels as if it is her or his right to stand on the rooftops and to threaten people. It is does nothing to promote or even help South African sport and our sports stars of all colours who are caught in the middle and are embarrassed by the officials who are supposed to run Iand guide their codes through all the rough patches.

So let us hope that a meeting on Friday to discuss this transformation wrangle and other issues will somehow come up with a real solution and plan for the future. We can't go on like this anymore.

- AT the risk of being the party pooper let me say that the A1 Grand Prix in Durban is an overblown and way over-hyped event which must have the best PR machine around.

This is, of course a personal view, but I could not help smiling when I watched the race on TV and witnessed some driving that took me back to my teenage days when I used to watch stock car racing at the Allan Ford Stadium at Hoy Park.

As the commentator said as the cars piled up at the hairpin (Vodacom Corner): "I have never seen such brainless driving."

Adrian Zaugg had a disappointing weekend, but I mainly have a huge problem with him as he is about as South African as Roger Federer and I find it hard to identify with him.

He was born in Singapore, grew up in Switzerland and has a Panamanian girlfriend! I know he is listed as having a residence in Cape Town, but with that foreign accent he as is about as South African as, well, Federer.

I make the comparison with Swiss star Federer because he has a South African mother while Zaugg's parents are both South African, hence his status.

Perhaps Zaugg will one day be a world champion like Federer. We'll have to wait and see.