Ladies and gentlemen, the Carling Knockout has been very interesting and we've seen big teams crash out at first time of asking. As exciting as the football we've witnessed so far has been, the Man of the Match award has become a sore thumb and a bone of contention.
It is a wonderful gesture from the tournament organisers to give football supporters a chance to have a say and impact the game by voting for the player they feel has outshined everyone. However, yours truly would be failing in his responsibility of ensuring that we entertain, inform and educate our people through these powerful platforms that may seem insignificant to some people, if this voting system goes unchallenged!
When we look at how the voting system has played itself out so far in the Last 16 of this competition, we have to be ashamed of ourselves! We've not served the Beautiful Game at all with the way we went about voting for the Man of the Match award and it has not been fair at all! More than 90% of the players voted as Man of the Match award winners have not been the most deserving in the game. We've watched these awards going to the wrong people and this is not taking shots at the receivers, they didn't vote themselves, but some of them were clearly surprised to learn that they had actually been voted as the best player on the field.
What's done is in the past, nothing is going to change, but we can change how we do this going forward. The bottom line is that voting is always subjective and that's why the DStv Premiership stopped getting the supporters to vote for the Goal of the Season because it was never fair. People voted with their hearts and not their heads, which is exactly the same thing happening now in this tournament. If the voting trend we've seen so far is anything to go by, we seriously have to be worried about our supporters' capacity to analyse objectively, engage and understand the Beautiful Game.
The very same supporters always have strong opinions when the media selects Man of the Match and to see them doing the same thing they always accuse the media of is really disappointing. There has been no fairness in the voting system so far and stand-out players have not been acknowledged, which is so wrong. The Man of the Match award has been clouded by a lot of bias instead of rewarding the deserving player. One thinks, given a chance, some of our supporters would vote for their player even before the match kicks off, looking at the level of bias that we've witnessed so far in this tournament.
To think only one round has been played so far, one can only hope things get better and this column will awaken some sense into our heads to do the right thing – vote with our heads and not the hearts! This is a wonderful initiative by the organisers, but we are making a mockery of the system by the way we've been voting.
This defeats the objective of this initiative because we are robbing the deserving players of the much-needed acknowledgement for their outstanding performances by giving the awards to the wrong people. "This is criminal!" as coach Paul Dolezar would say. At the end of the day, we have a duty to vote fairly, objectively and without any bias. Let us not turn this into a popularity contest because that's not what this is about.
Let us also not give the organisers a reason to do away with this privilege given to the supporters. We can all admit that we've not jumped at the opportunity to maximise it. We all have the ability to see and analyse the game properly, but we just struggle to do away with favouritism, club and player allegiance when it matters most. This is something we definitely need to change because it is counter-productive to the wonderful initiative that seeks to give the power to the supporters. Choosing a Man of the Match is a big deal, but it looks like some people are just going through the motions instead of making sober decisions with their votes.
The way we've been doing this voting business leaves so much to be desired and one believes we are better than that. We know our football, we just need to stop with the bias and vote objectively. It matters not who wins this award as long as they are deserving winners, not what we have seen so far. Some of the recipients clearly couldn't believe their luck when their names were called and their interviews told a story of someone who can't even find words to express their shock at being accused of being the best player on the day!
One wonders what criteria most of our voters use to select the most valuable player of the match? We are not just talking about someone playing to the gallery but someone who is impacting the game positively. Someone who is making things happen for their team, grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck and making the opposition's life miserable. This is someone who outshines everyone on the field of play and the only player who deserves to be rewarded with the R100 000 prize money the tournament organisers have made available for the award winner. This is a lot of money and a wonderful incentive for someone who stood head and shoulders above the rest. However, it is sad to see wrong people being rewarded at the expense of the more deserving candidates.
We have to correct our mistakes because we can do much better. Guys, we are football people. We love, live, breathe, eat and sleep this Beautiful Game. By voting through popularity, you are taking away from the deserving player who made it a point to stand out and that player will have every right to feel either robbed or betrayed by the very same people he was trying to please and entertain. Here's hoping that those who 'benefitted' though this unfair voting will not get a false sense of thinking they are on top of their game and therefore see no need to improve. They must know that they are award winners on paper, but they still have a lot of work to do. Those who feel betrayed and overlooked, please chin up and continue working hard because some of us see you. Let us forget about who we support and watch the game objectively so that we can vote accordingly. It is not going to help our game to have people rewarded for doing less just because they are popular or playing for big teams.
Let's be objective and reward people accordingly. By so doing, we won't give the tournament organisers a reason to do away with the voting system, taking the only privilege of impacting the game we have away from us because we are not using it correctly. Let us take this voting seriously so that we add our weight behind the development of our football rather than dragging it through the mud. At the rate we are going, we are taking a completely different direction to what this wonderful initiative is all about.
It doesn't help the Beautiful Game to have deserving players overlooked because they are not anyone's favourite or they are playing for a small team. Let us not reward mediocrity just because it is from familiar faces. We can do better than that because we know and love this game. Let us do the right thing by voting for the right people. This is not just about the monetary value but keeping the game clean and levelling the playing fields. No one should benefit unduly because they happen to be more popular or enjoy more fan base for their football club. Yes, everyone has a right to vote the way they see fit, but let us reward excellence and we have not done that so far in this tournament. The quarterfinals will take place next week and one hopes things will be done properly. Reward deserving players based on merit and nothing else!
Cheers,
VeeJay
