Why we support English teams

A BACKCHATTER recently asked on this page why South Africans support English teams Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal. “Why are you not patriotic and support our local teams? Do those teams ever acknowledge your support?” he or she asked (the writer did not have the courage to pen his or her name to the message).

I too support Liverpool, and have done so for decades. I do not ask the team to acknowledge my support, because that’s not why I support them. But I would also ask the chatter how local teams acknowledge his or her support.

However, having lived in Pietermaritzburg for a number of years before moving to Durban, I attended a number of Maritzburg United games and the team remains a sentimental favourite.

Daily News soccer writers are fond of lamenting the lack of local representation in European leagues, and often comment that local players need to gain international experience for the national team to succeed.

However, in “Don’t blame Parreira” in the Daily News of July 2, former Bafana Bafana midfielder Macbeth Sibiya has the honesty to admit that the quality of local football is simply not up to scratch.

“What you get at Bafana is what you get in the PSL (Premier Soccer League), so you shouldn’t expect more than that,” he said.

And this explains why few local players make it into European leagues – they simply don’t make the grade, meaning the quality of soccer played in the local league also does not make the grade.

It is no surprise, therefore, that many South Africans, and people elsewhere on the globe, support teams in the European leagues where the game is of a much higher quality.