Better late than never. The South African Football Association's (SAFA) lack of a national development programme was one of the reasons Stuart Baxter eventually walked away from the national team coaching job.

Now, after the Englishman's departure, SAFA have launched the South African Football Foundation, a development initiative which aims to improve the country's grass roots infrastructure in the lead-up to the World Cup in 2010.

Ironically, SAFA are following the concept developed by the English. It is a pity Baxter is not around to help implement the programme.

Based on the English model, the collaboration between government, football and industry has been hailed as a project that will improve facilities, create opportunities, build communities and leave a football legacy well after 2010.

The initiative, which is drawing on the expertise and support of the Football Foundation and the British government, is one of several that will be announced over the next few months as part of an accelerated process to develop the grass roots of the South African game before the 2010 World Cup.

That's according to the press release, which was full of words of praise and encouragement from various SAFA officials and British politicians. However, it explained little about how it all will work.

Baxter constantly moaned about the lack of ready-made replacements for senior players. A properly run development programme would have seen players in all positions coming through a well-oiled system, ready to take the step up to the highest level.

Until a programme is up and running, the main nurseries of talent will be the club structures, from juniors to amateurs to professional. Bafana Bafana have had to rely on whatever was produced by the clubs.

Thankfully, South Africa is fairly rich in natural talent. Eventually, though, that system wears thin, because all around us the football world is moving ahead with academies and development programmes.

Bafana Bafana can be compared to a car. In 1996 the car was virtually brand new, and the team helped the country win the African Nations Cup. Since then only the driver has changed. Worn-out parts were sometimes replaced or held together with tape. Eventually it will break down completely.

New drivers (coaches) might be able to conduct running repairs and kick-start it every so often, but ultimately not even the world's top driver will succeed. SAFA's development teams produced a few coaches like Boebie Solomons, Boebie Williams, Ephraim Mashaba and Thabo Dladla. None of them are working for the association.

Hopefully SAFA's new programme will also develop the coaches. Locals have often been overlooked in favour of foreigners, both on the club and national circuit. Had SAFA's structures been in order, we might have seen locals like Dladla and Solomons graduate through the ranks naturally.

Instead, the flawed system has seen people promoted unfairly or put into positions that are beyond their level of expertise. SAFA is also holding discussions about placing 40 young players at English football academies. It all comes a bit late for Baxter.

In future, SAFA had better be on time when it comes to implementing vital strategies, or South Africa will forever be playing catch-up.

Source: The Mercury