Sundowns urged to support Saleng as pressure mounts on South African football

Mental performance expert Jordan Byrne has challenged SAFA and Mamelodi Sundowns to place greater emphasis on player welfare as concerns grow around the situation involving talented but controversial forward Monnapule Saleng.

Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso recently said Saleng had been affected by “systematic failures” in the process of integrating him into the club’s set-up following his move from Orlando Pirates. The player has since been separated from the rest of the squad.

Speaking exclusively to KickOff, Byrne said South African football authorities and clubs must recognise that players’ mental wellbeing is as important as their physical and technical development.

“These players are human first before they are footballers. They arrive at the club’s facilities, at the games, with their own stuff, their own troubles, their own life experiences,” shared Byrne.

He said players can arrive at clubs carrying a wide range of personal experiences, including unresolved trauma and difficult emotions, and warned that those issues cannot be left solely for the individual to manage.

“Some may be traumatic, some may be positive, but for the most part, we carry a lot of baggage, we carry a lot of unresolved trauma, we carry a lot of emotions with us and if this was not dealt with, which clearly has not been … and perhaps he has not had an outlet, he has not had someone he can talk to.

“The expectation can’t be on the individual himself. It needs to start from the club level, it needs to start from SAFA level actually, to realise that the mental side of the game does matter to our players and it needs to be acknowledged and addressed,” added Byrne, who holds a Master’s Degree in Sports Psychology from the University of the Western Cape.

Byrne believes the issue extends beyond Saleng and reflects a wider need for structured psychological support in South African football. He said comparable situations were becoming more common and called on SAFA to act.

“There’s more and more cases like this, and surely now has to be the time for SAFA to say, enough is enough, we need to be doing something here. For a player not to be integrated or to struggle in a set-up as they move… In European set-ups, there are people dedicated to this role.

“Another factor, according to Byrne, is the scale of the adjustment players may face when moving into a bigger club environment. Changes in lifestyle, increased earnings and the expectations of family and friends can all create additional pressure.

“It’s a massive change in lifestyle and what you’re exposed to… the financial side too. All of a sudden, you are earning a good salary, and you’ve got a lot of people around you, family and friends who are relying on you for some sort of support, to be successful. A massive amount of pressure.

“When you are carrying with you trauma or emotions that you don’t know how to resolve, then it’s only normal that we see reactions like this from players, where they sort of flip out and are unable to deal with it. They react in ways that are not good and it costs them a spot in the squad, and that’s hard to swallow.

Byrne said players can become so desperate to succeed that the pressure begins to affect their performances and their place within the team.

“They want it so badly that it almost becomes detrimental to their performances. I hope there is someone at Sundowns who will come close to him and guide him through this process so that we can get the best out of him. The clubs need to be appointing counselors or sport psychologists. It’s not only about what happens on the pitch.

“What happens when they walk off the pitch and they are not happy with who they are and how they performed?” quizzed the expert.

Byrne is available for professional support through Instagram at @MindMattersPerformance, under Mind Matters, or by email at Jordan@mindmatterspro.uk.