As South African football faces a critical election on September 12, the future of the sport hangs in the balance. Will longstanding incumbent Danny Jordaan maintain control, or is it time for a fresh perspective under Sandile Zungu?
I remember back in 1996, at the age of 11, when Mark Williams scored two goals against Tunisia in the AFCON final. I remember the TV, the crowd, our family, the whole neighbourhood and community roaring and screaming in elation at the fact that we were AFCON 1996 champions.
Just the previous year, the country had won the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
No one will ever forget Bafana captain Neil Tovey lifting the AFCON '96 trophy, with the Tunisia jersey and former president Nelson Mandela beside him. That was our defining moment. That was reconciliation at play, the new South Africa laid bare for the whole world to see and share in our glory.
Right after that final, South African football spent time in the top 20 of the FIFA rankings, right up to the moment when former Bafana striker Phil Masinga scored that cracker of a goal that sent us flying into France '98.
