The topic that TOUCHLINE has chosen, this week, is very sensitive, it is the topic not many would like to hear for a number of reasons because we tend to put our heads in the sand when the truth is told.

TOUCHLINE grew up in a community where when there was a death in the community everything came to a standard still. This went to as far as when the hearse passed by we would sit down to show respect to family of the deceseaced and his/her family.

However, gone are those days!

TOUCHLINE has witnessed the situation where local football administrators and coaches are buried like ‘poopers’. TOUCHLINE knows this is the word used is not good, but this is a sad reality of our football with those who served football  being uried like they contributed nothing to the development of football not only in this region but in South Africa. This shows that people only love you while they still benefit from you, but when you die, they don’t even wait for your body to be cold as they would tell everyone who care to listen how bad person you’re. Yours truly TOUCHLINE has attended funerals of some former football administrators and coaches and I must say a few, if not none, of local football administrators and coaches attended these funeral. This is despite the fact that those poor souls served our  football with distinction while they were still in great health.  The truth is that some of football administrators and coaches will never see “heaven” because of the above mentioned factors.

TOUCHLINE has a great respect for soldiers because when one of them passes away, they show a lot of respect, everything comes to a standstill when one of them dies. This is the attitude that TOUCHLINE is talking about to our football administrators and coaches. It seems as if the only people who deserve decent burials or funerasl are the former soccer players because their funerals are like a match day with everyone coming to pay their last respect. But when it comes to the men and women who have been loyal to this beautiful game it is not the same.

Point in case, I attended a funeral of a former SAFA Director of Competitions sometime ago and few of football administrators came to bid him farewell. I mean not even those who worked with him at SAFA national offices bothered to attend his funeral. The same happened at the funeral of Coach Mahlomola “Taylor” Mokoena with handful football administrators and coaches coming to his funeral. This was the man who changed the structure of development football to modern football. But when it was time for us to reward him for his contribution in the development of football in this region, we were nowhere to be found. Most of us were not there pay our last respect to him for his contribution in the development of football in this region. Let me repeat myself, soldiers are much better than football people because they have morals.

This is not the community that I grew up in, where we care for everyone, poor or rich, young and old.

How times have changed!