Are South Africans Supporting Soccer?
The derby is coming up on the 4th of March. Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs will battle is out for 3 points. Soccer City will be filled to the roof with fans from all over South Africa and other regions of Africa. The nation will be buzzing come the 4th of March but is the derby the only fixture supported in South African football?
Moral support is crucial for players and for the love of the game in South Africa. However, some fixtures are not supported and is the problem the marketing of the fixtures by respective marketing offices of teams or is it the PSL not marketing all fixtures equally? Come the derby, Soweto giants players will be in malls signing autographs, giving out tickets and promoting the fixture and one wonders if this is the culture for all fixtures?
The unfortunate part is that all the marketing goes into promoting a draw between the two Soweto giants as it ended last year. Perhaps all teams need to work on their fan base and ways in which stadiums can be packed for every game and not just a selected few matches. At the end of the day we are promoting South African football and not a team.
Perhaps South African football show boot needs to come back to call people back to stadiums. We need the likes of the late Scara Ngobese and Steve Lekolea, Jabu Mahlangu and few others who entertained and converted goals for their teams. Fans were left happy when the game ended.
