Age is a number that seriously impacts on soccer’s bottom line

Without players there is no soccer. They are probably the most valuable assets that any top soccer team has at any one time. Clubs and football federations in South Africa, and the world over invest a lot of money to keep the conveyor belt of young players constantly producing. There’s no doubt a lot is being done in this regard.

Where South Africa is losing out is on the longevity of these players, particularly the star performers. The likes of John ‘Shoes’ Moshoeu, who played almost into his forties, are a very very rare exception.  Other’s like the highly marketable Doctor Khumalo faded into football oblivion in his mid-thirties. These are the type of players that put bums onto seats and these are the players that sell replica jerseys. Imagine the return on investment of a player like Paolo Maldini of AC Milan, who at 41, is finally playing in his last season.

Many a Milan jersey number-3 have been sold, and tens of titles have been won on the back of his phenomenal performances, within a team context of course. And countless brands have been endorsed by his image to the benefit of dozens of consumer brands over the years. Manchester United Icons like Ryan Giggs are still getting contract extensions well into their late thirties.

But things are different in South Africa where our football is obsessed with youth. Where the big ’3′ ’0′ becomes a big ‘no-no’. Our clubs have to invest more in ensuring the longevity of our players so that more can be squeezed out of the unique talents like Doctor Khumalo. Clubs have to invest a lot more into the latest methodologies and concepts in sports medicine and nutrition.

Yes, some of the bigger clubs are now realising the potential benefits of bio-kinetics but we need to ultimately consider investing in sports laboratories in the way AC Milan have done with the Milan Lab. It is partly thanks to this lab that the club won the 2007 UEFA Champions League with a backbone of players well into their thirties like Filippo Inzaghi, Clarence Seedorf and Paolo Maldini.

Romario was top scorer in the Brazilian championship at the age of about 40. Why can’t thing happen here in South Africa.

Sometimes it makes soccer-business sense to have a 35 year old striker who knows how to deliver the goods than a 22 year old who runs around the whole game doing nothing. Imagine how many more of Isaac ‘Shakes’ kungoane’s incisive passes we could have enjoyed had we managed to get even just two more good seasons out of him before the premature end to his career, mainly due to weight problems. The psychological and physiological problems he suffered from could possibly have been corrected had the structures been in place to deal with them.