Some of the world’s top clubs are announcing pre-season tours to continents as far as North America and Asia.
These tours are obviously not only about what happens on the porch but are part of a bigger commercial plan as well.
This reminded me of the good old days when one of those stops was South Africa for at least one top English side for the Vodacom Challenge.
This was a time when Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates took centre stage as hosts of the one-day tournament because of their association with the South African mobile operator.
The young ones reading this might not be aware, but the original Vodacom Challenge was a contest hosted by Chiefs and Pirates against two African giants such as Tunisia’s Esperance, the Ivory Coast’s famous Asec Mimosas or the Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko from Ghana.
Even DRC’s St Eloi Lupopo, AS Vita and TP Mazembe were all here to play against the Soweto giants in front of packed crowds.
That tournament was supposed to serve as a test against top African opposition for SA’s top two sides at the time.
The sad part, however, was that dominating Africa was not really on the Soweto giants’ agenda at the time.
Chiefs were even banned for three years by Caf for not honouring a fixture around that time.
SOCCER ICON: Doctor Khumalo. Picture by: David Ritchie.
Besides that, it was also a fantastic showcase to see SA’s top talent against some of the best on the continent and later against top English clubs such as Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
One Jabu Pule (Mahlangu) became a star after making his first-team debut for Kaizer Chiefs at the very first edition in 1999.
A teenage Pule wore the famous number 11 jersey, which was made legendary by Teenage Dladla at Amakhosi.
He wasn’t in the team originally when they lost the first match against Esperance, but was called up for the third and fourth place game against Mimosas.
It was such a strange moment because his shirt originally had “Moosa” printed on it because it was supposed to be worn by Zane Moosa, so they put a white plaster over it and wrote Jabu with a black pen.
The rest is history because Jabu Pule not only entertained fans with fancy tricks but would also score to hand Chiefs their first win in the Vodacom Challenge and would go on to create even more special moments in a Chiefs jersey.
This was the very same tournament some years later, where we watched Old John Mabizela play the game of his life against Tottenham Hotspur.
The ball-playing centre-back who would go on to captain Bafana Bafana and was amazing in an unforgettable win for Pirates.
He left the country for England soon after that and scored a memorable goal on debut for Spurs.
These are the kind of stories created by pre-season fanfare.
SIGNED: Benni McCarthy was signed for Ajax Amsterdam through similar pre-season showcases. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee.
I have not even taken you back to the days of the Iwisa Spectacular, which would later be the Telkom Charity Cup, where names like Doctor Khumalo and Thabo Mooki announced their arrival on the SA football scene.
At some stage, even SuperSport United played their pre-season matches against Australian side Queensland Roar (now Brisbane Roar) home and away in 2007.
I actually thought that was the start of some kind of unique relationship similar to what we have in rugby, but there was no follow-up to that relationship and that connection was lost.
Their neighbours Mamelodi Sundowns have been the most recent side to make a statement with ambitious pre-season plans.
Back in 2014, Sundowns announced plans to play matches in Mpumalanga, Zambia and Namibia, where they played against a local side African Stars as well as Angola’s Primeiro De Agosto.
The Brazilians’ journey was all part of their plans to understand different conditions on the continent and be better prepared for Caf tournaments.
Sundowns now have one leg in the CAF Champions League semifinals after winning 5-0 in the first leg this past weekend, handing Africa’s most successful team, Al Ahly, their heaviest defeat in the process.
So why are SA clubs not announcing pre-season plans?
A pre-season strategy doesn’t have to be something in the grand scale of what the Europeans teams are doing.
Ajax Cape Town could easily have a pre-season date on their calendar, which could include an exhibition game in Khayelitsha against a team selected of players in honour of the late Cecil Lolo.
I can see it being a special occasion, Khayelitsha has some top venues to even organise a celebration afterwards.
And who knows, some youngster could get noticed.
It has happened before when Ajax played a friendly in Paarl and signed Andile Mbenyane, who is with Chippa United now.
Even Ajax Amsterdam did it after they signed Benni McCarthy and later Steven Pienaar.
UNEARTHED GEM: Ajax’s Steven Pienaar. Photo: Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix.
The Dutch giants were a regular feature in Cape Town for a friendly match against the Urban Warriors and even invested here with the hope of unearthing another Benni.
This really should be standard procedure for many of the local teams around the country.
And maybe we would also stop hearing coaches, players and managers showing a lack of understanding of different conditions such as Limpopo.
One of the Laws of the Attraction is speaking things into existence.
So maybe, just maybe, local clubs will play ball and bring the game closer to fans during pre-season.