THE FUSE

The teams do their job on the field; the SA Football Association (Safa) sabotages it in the boardroom. It’s a story as old as South African football itself. The federation’s legacy of dysfunction spans from bitter bonus disputes ahead of major tournaments to Banyana Banyana being expected to play on a sub-par pitch ahead of a Fifa World Cup appearance. Now, Bafana Bafana’s World Cup plans are the latest casualty of the national soccer federation’s incompetence.