SOUTH AFRICA, WE HAVE A GOALKEEPING PROBLEM

Foreign dominance of Premiership goalposts spell disaster for Bafana Bafana if things don’t change.  

We might have the best goalkeeper on the continent in Ronwen Williams, but South African football has a goalkeeping problem alright! This much was evident during the seven Betway Premiership matches played this past week.

Ronwen Williams and his well-deserved Trophies - Africa's Best Goalkeeper

Of the 14 clubs that were involved, only five of those had South Africans in goals. It is a number that has got Bafana Bafana goalkeeper coach Grant Johnson properly concerned: “It’s a big problem for us when it comes to team selection because we’ve got to choose the goalkeepers who are playing and there are not many of them. The numbers to select from are very limited.”

Johnson is right. Of those five locals that played, the reality is that none of them can unseat Williams from his perch. Granted, Sage Stephens is in the Bafana fold, the Stellenbosch FC number one having been capped as a substitute in the senior national team’s last match against South Sudan. At 34 years old, however, Stephens is pretty old to only be beginning his international career and is not one to be looked at as a replacement for when Williams’ time is up.

The others – Darren Keet (Cape Town City), Bruce Bvuma (Kaizer Chiefs), and Mondli Mpoto (Royal AM) – cannot be regarded as Bafana material while SuperSport United’s Thakasani Mbanjwa (SuperSport United has some potential.

It is slim pickings indeed and the situation is not helped by the fact that the problem runs much deeper than just what those line-ups showed.

“We did an analysis recently in which we looked at the goalkeepers in the PSL (Premiership) and we found that in some of the clubs, the number one and number two goalkeepers are foreigners. That’s the problem, there’s no one waiting in the wings to come through and get game time and play consistently,” Johnson explains, his point is supported by the fact that  Bvuma – for example is not a Chiefs regular with that role the preserve of Rwandan Fiacri Ntwari.

Ron Williams after another sensational save

Mbanjwa played because the regular incumbent at SuperSport – Ricardo Goss – is injured. Aaah, but Goss is a South African and a Bafana squad member, you say. He might be, but can he be looked at as the man to take over from Williams say after 2026?

“The challenge is that the ones who are playing and are South Africans are close to or over 30 (years of age). We are sitting with a big problem because not many young South African goalkeepers are coming through the ranks.”

Of course, goalkeepers have a much longer career span than outfield players, but when a player is in his thirties and is yet to be an established international chances are they are never really going to cut the mustard.

Johnson says he understands why PSL clubs are reliant on foreign goalkeepers. "Coaches’ jobs are at stake so they always want to play the best goalkeeper they have because that’s a vital position in the game. And because there are very few good local keepers banging on the door to get the number one jersey, the coaches go for the ready-made ones, who are often established foreigners.”

What then should South Africa do to eradicate what could well be a problem that will limit success on the international front? “One thing we can do in the Diiski (Challenge, Reserve League) is to allow the goalkeepers to be a little older than the 23 years restriction because 21- and 22-year-olds are not ready for PSL football whereas the older ones of 24-25 are and can gain valuable experience there,”  Johnson suggests “The other option could be to say to PSL (Premiership) teams 30 percent of the seasons’ games they must play a local goalkeeper. It might be too restricting but something needs to be done because it (the goalkeeping situation) is a huge problem.”

Clearly, goalkeeping is not so glamorous a position for it to attract young players. One would think achievements such as those of Williams in recent years and Itumeleng Khune as well as Brian Baloyi before him got youngsters to aspire to be like these heroes. “As coaches, that’s what we should be trying to achieve – to make youngsters want to be goalkeepers,” Johnson says “We must make it a fun position and we as coaches need to do it differently. When I watch goalkeepers being trained, a lot of it is strenuous diving around. Perhaps we must start making goalkeeping better. The problem is that we don’t have enough goalkeeper coaches, but we have a lot of trainers who just make goalkeepers dive and dive without them really learning anything. We should have coaches who train and teach in a way that makes it a fun position and more glamorous with techniques.”

The sooner that is done, the better the chances of the Premiership clubs’ goalposts being dominated by local players.