SIEM SING MY SONG ON SOCCER MEDIA IDEA

READING Kjetil Siem’s future plans for the PSL this week was like music to my ears.
As a former soccer journalist himself, one of Siem’s areas of con cern is the relationship between the media and football administrators, both at PSL and club level.

The new PSL CE’s pledge to build bridges between the two insti tutions reminded me of an earlier experience when I started out as a soccer reporter not so many years ago.

As a green horn student jour nalist, my first live match report was on a league game between Moroka Swallows and Manning Rangers at the George Goch Stadium on the outskirts of Joburg.

It was a perfect Sunday after noon and my excitement, at covering a match between one of the country’s oldest clubs and another from Durban that had two seasons earlier won the inaugural PSL champi onship, could not be measured.

I was in the com pany of a senior reporter from the same publication that I was working for and everything went smoothly until we reached the main gate.

One of the security personnel at the gate firmly grabbed my PSL media card before examining it for its validity and pondering whether the picture on it corresponded with that of the wide-eyed young man in front of him.

With a menacing look in his eyes and an intimidating knobkerrie nicely tucked under his arm, he gave me a few vicious glances before consulting with one of his colleagues.

I began to panic as my senior colleague and partner for the day had already disappeared into the dilapidated stadium.

The two men, who looked like they had just been seconded from a hostel adjacent to the stadium, started grilling me.

The nub centre of their gripe was that I was too young to be a journalist. They also probed me on how I had laid hands on my accreditation.

After a long struggle explain ing myself, I was grudgingly admit ted but fortunately I did not miss any of the action.

This was just one of many exam ples of the running battles that became part of my job as the years went by.

And that is why I could not be happier when I realised that Siem is serious about this side of the busi ness.

Part of his statement reads: "There will also be media training for club officials and players."
This could not have come at a better time and I know just which club urgently needs such a work shop. As for the players, I wish the reformist new chief all the best in that regard.

I just hope that like many other imposters who came in between Trevor Phillips’s two separate terms in office, Siem’s promises will not be just another talk shop.

A lot of promises were made in the past and they remained that, promises.
The creative South African soccer public has named the Norwegian "Kettle" and I therefore hope his undertaking will not prove to be yet another impotent stream of steam from a container of boiling water.