3 weeks in SA (mostly Cape Town), makes me far from a local football expert! However some observations –
I’d say PSL about English League One level maybe
Football is almost totally a ‘black’ game in
South Africa. The teams predominantly play in township areas, that
whites are not so keen on visiting! 99% of the fans at PSL games seemed
like blacks to me, and about 90% of the players. Football fans that
are whites, coloured (mixed race), Indians etc tend to have far more
interest in the EPL, than local football. Helps that SA time zone is
virtually same as Europe, so much more friendly for watching European
leagues live
Local game is wracked with internal political disputes, corruption etc
Two Soweto sides – Kaizier Chiefs & Orland
Pirates dominate. Staying in Cape Town, the best local side Ajax CT,
struggled for crowds and most blacks I met supported either of the
Soweto sides. Many of the blacks in the Cape have migrated in from other
parts of the country last 20 odd years
I’d say the parents of any promising white kids,
would be very keen to get their son signed overseas as soon as possible.
Who knows these same parents, may even use it as primary reason to
migrate to likes of UK, Oz, NZ etc, ie better career/football
opportunities for their kids. You’d be better to ask the parents of
Storm Roux, Deklan Wynne, Ryan De Vries etc for confirmation on that!
So don’t see many white kids coming directly
through from SA, in the future and signing for big clubs overseas. But
again far from an expert on SA football.
Be interesting to know how the wives/partners of
Brockie & Boxall are copping with living in SA. Crime (often very
violent crime) is a massive issue and places huge restrictions on what
you do, where you go etc etc.
An interesting story from last year was that SA
football hero Benni McCarthy, was back visiting Jo’burg from Scotland
where he lives. He was in his local barbers, and 2 hoods came in and
robbed him of his bling at gun point! If a local hero like McCarthy can
be robbed – so can anyone!
One thing that is definitely true about SA sport
in general (esp cricket & rugby) is that race is a massive issue.
There is huge pressure on sports administrators to pick a certain number
of black players (quotas). Less of a problem in football, being
primarily a black game, but I remember a full page newspaper article on
why this particular black cricket player (who had a strong season for
local side Cape Cobras) wasn’t now in the Proteas. Gist of it all was
black players weren’t given enough opportunities etc etc. Race is still a
massive issue in SA from politics to business to sport.
.
I lived in South Africa until recently and still follow the game there on a big scale. I'd agree with some of what you've said but certainly not all of it.
A matter of opinion of course but I'd say the PSL is more like the top half of the English Championship in the main. Definitely better quality than English League One. Not as physical but technically far superior.
To say football is almost totally black is not correct. Football is, and always has been, popular with whites, coloureds and Indians in South Africa too. Some teams play in township areas because the better stadia in many cities are used by rugby teams. It is correct that most whites and Indians won't visit township areas - I have done so for games on a few occasions but I wouldn't generally advise it. Clubs like Ajax Cape Town, Mamelodi Sundowns, University of Pretoria, BidVest Wits, Chippa United etc all play in mainstream city locations where populations mix quite happily. I used to spend a lot of time at Ajax Cape Town and also Vasco da Gama and whites were a large percentage of the crowd. As were coloureds. In Durban I'd sometimes watch AmaZulu who played in the city centre at Moses Mahbida Stadium. You'd also get a lot of white and Indian (Durban has a large Indian population) fans there too.
As for players, some of South Africa's best players have been white, going way back. In recent years there has been Mark Fish, Eric Tinkler, Hans Vonk, Neil Tovey, Matthew Booth and, today, there are players like Marc Van Heerden, Darren Keet, Keegan Ritchie, Dean Furman, Michael Morton, Daniel Cardoso etc. There are also a number of imported white players such as Jeremy Brockie, of course, and James Keene, Anssi Jaakola, Kris Bright etc. One of the top prospects in SA at the moment is a young white defender at Kaizer Chiefs called Lorenzo Gordinho (of Portuguese heritage).
For sure, race is still an issue in SA sport. I'll agree with that. Cricket and rugby are basically being destroyed because the best players no longer get picked. It's why some whites go abroad to play for other countries. It's ironic that football never had quotas. The problem with race in SA is that it's always seen as "one way". It's always been a massive game for whites (the old white league used to get crowds of 20,000 easily) but is becoming more popular once again among the young white players. Time will tell but it's not all bad news as many people see it. Banyana Banyana (the women's national side) played against Zimbabwe yesterday and there were three white girls in the starting XI.