Sorting out transformation, winning a few things that truly matter and discovering vibrant new characters would make it a year to savour for SA sport.

Here, then, my 10 things to make 2016 vintage.

Bafana pull finger
It’s a hazardous time to be a national team supporter.

Bafana sit at the bottom of their Afcon qualifying group and who knows what the World Cup qualifying draw will throw up when it is done in July?

Action will come thick and fast with three international friendlies mixed in with late-year qualifiers. Two back-to-back Afcon qualifiers against Cameroon in March will likely set the tone. Bafana have long wallowed in mediocrity. Twenty years after their great African triumph, it’s time to rekindle the fire.

T20 dreaming
We know all about the Proteas’ wretched form in ICC events. If there’s a way to self-destruct, you can be sure they’ve tried it. And yet . . . on balance we have an exciting, potentially explosive XI who can give history and tradition the bloody nose it deserves after too many years of hurt and humiliation.

Bring on the dancing girls, bring on World Twenty20.

Rio razzle-dazzle
The year is especially significant for rugby union as Sevens makes its Olympic bow in Rio. The world’s eyes will be watching, not least those who only occasionally trip over a game by accident.

The Blitzbokke are the real deal; transformed and terrific. They have every chance of being SA rugby’s good-news story of the year.

All Black (and blue)
Whoever gets the Bok coaching job will have as his first order of business unravelling the aura of the All Blacks.

It’s a nonsense how New Zealand dominate the Springboks in every sense. For South Africa to reverse this will require a bold change in mindset and ambition. Ox-wagons and orthodoxy be damned.

Colour blind
Tackling transformation is the hardiest annual in SA sport.

Not a month passes without a rumbling or three and yet it’s almost always a case of one step forward, three steps back.

Imagine if we used the energy on squabbling about quotas in a more meaningful way. SA sport is enriched by its many colours and cultures – picking the best of them can only add to the excellence, not dilute it. Oh for the day when we all understand that. And then just get on with it.

Banish the bosses
SA newspapers have an unnatural interest in sports administrators.

Overseas, the CEO’s and suits barely rate a mention. Here, hardly a day goes by without their mention. The spotlight needs to shine on those who deserve it – our compelling sportsmen and women who are unfailingly diligent and dignified, often in difficult circumstances.

Fantastic fringe
Local sport is full of go-getters and entrepreneurs who dream up events and make exciting things happen on the margins.

Away from the traditional Big Three, I’m a big fan of events like the Cape Epic, the Cape Town 10s, Warrior racing, EFC, Park Run and the Midmar Mile. The fraternal nature of these unique gatherings produces memorable jols and is a reminder that there’s a lot of good out there.

Rocking in Rio
The Olympic Games are always a slow-burner in SA terms, but when they come around they lock us in and get us talking.

Fans will lean heavily on our top swimmers for medals and it would be encouraging for the likes of Myles Brown and Sebastien Rousseau to join established superstars like Cameron van den Burgh and Chad Le Clos. Better still if there was a female or two, but we probably shouldn’t get our hopes up.

With luck, athletes Anaso Jabodwana and Wayde van Niekerk also come to the party and make it a Games to savour.

Characters and clichés
Politics, spinmeisters and the risks of social media has put the muzzle on sports stars and consequently the characters have fast begun to wilt. Where are today’s crazy personalities to compare to Benni McCarthy, James Small and Hershelle Gibbs?

Thanks to political correctness and an obsession with media training, characters have been replaced by cliché. Give us back our free thinkers and our whack jobs. We miss them. – © Sunday Tribune