It’s a great sad and painstaking moment for me to pen this opinion article about my beloved football team Jomo Cosmos sinking into lower-division ABC Motsepe League after almost three decades playing in the top league.
The team at the moment is sitting at the bottom of the table of the Glad Africa Championship league. To someone who doesn’t know the genesis of the football club, the team was founded by South African soccer legend, entrepreneur, businessman and football scout, football club sole owner Ephraim Matsilela Jomo Sono in 1988.
Sono, after his return from playing New York Cosmos with the likes of great Pele in the United States of America, bought then Johannesburg based soccer team, the Highlands Park and renamed it Jomo Cosmos. He become the player and coach of the team with help of Screamer Shabalala and Roy Mathews, father of Stan Mathews of SuperSport United FC.
The team become one of the biggest teams in the early 1990s and the early 2000s, then a couple of years later unfortunately it was downhill for the team. The club struggled to remain in the South African top-flight division, Premier Soccer League.
Some soccer analysts and pundits say Sono manufactured and designed his downfall by not evolving and moving with the times. He kept believing and focusing on one thing instead of mixing it up. For instance, Jomo likes developing his own talent instead of buying players, which there’s nothing wrong with that but bringing different skills could have improved the status of the team.
Another problem with Jomo was to do multiple roles at the club at the same time instead of delegating roles like appointing a football coach and manager to run the football team. Sono is different when it comes to running his football affairs as compared to his peers like Kaizer Motaung, founder and Chairman of Kaizer Chiefs, Dr Khoza, Chairman of Orlando Pirates and Premier Soccer League and Dr Patrice Motsepe, CAF President and Chairman of Mamelodi Sundowns.
It’s worth noting that, the team produced some of the big names in South African and the African continent football landscapes.
Here’s the list of some of the football legends that went through the hand of the great Jomo Sono… are you ready?… the current Bafana Bafana assistant coach Hellman Mkhelele, Linda Buthelezi, Mark Fish, Pitso Mosimane, Aaron Mokoena, Maimane Phiri, his two sons Eric Bamuza and Matsetele Sono, David Modise, Nkosinathi Nhleko, Andrew Rabutla, Mandla and Eugene Zwane, Edward Magents Motale, Clifford Moleko, Aaron Mokoena, The Mcwango Brothers, Sam Magalifa, Thomas Madigage, Chicco Lawrence, Benjamin Muariwari, Hilton Jordaan, John Commitis Founder and Chairman of Cape Town City FC and many more, the list is endless.
If the team gets relegated, I’m not sure if the football team can make it or even come back to the Premier Soccer League (PSL), only time will tell. However, if the team makes a comeback to PSL, Jomo must be willing to step down and appoint a full-time coach to run the football team and focus on other areas of the business. There are a lot of templates and case studies out there for Sono to learn about how the best football teams are run and best led here at home, on the continent and in the world.
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