Take Bafana to the masses!

Ladies and gentlemen, let us stop fooling ourselves! It has become an open secret that the folks based in Gauteng have far more important things to do than watching Bafana Bafana games! If Saturday afternoon’s international friendly between Bafana and Namibia didn’t finally convince South African Football Association (SAFA) that it is time to take our national team away from the Highveld, nothing will ever knock any more sense into the heads of the powers that be. Maybe, just maybe, it is time to take Bafana to the masses!

Just under a year ago, in Soccer Laduma edition 1293 of September 28, 2022, this writer lambasted the poor turnout at the FNB Stadium where coach Hugo Broos’ charges played in front of a relatively empty stadium when they hosted and demolished Sierra Leone 4-0! It was both embarrassing and disappointing to see our team displaying great football and scoring goals, two of the most important aspects of the game for any football supporter, with very few people to celebrate with. This time around, the Saturday afternoon match failed to ignite any passion even on the few supporters who graced the occasion. One has seen better attendance figures at training matches, yet we continue to host national teams in Gauteng, where people are clearly showing everyone who cares a middle finger when it comes to attending Bafana matches. At the rate things are going, this is definitely not the last time our national team will be snubbed and this begs the question: Why can’t we take Bafana to other provinces where people are eagerly waiting to host our national team? Why is it that we continue banging our heads against a closed door, hoping it eventually opens, without even trying to get out through the window? This simply doesn’t make sense and it is time to take Bafana to the masses! We’ve literally begged the Gautengers more than enough to attend Bafana matches and they’ve clearly decided against heeding that call. Maybe there is just too much football for them, maybe there is less interest in Bafana or maybe there are too many options for them and watching Bafana has dropped further down their priorities’ pecking order.

One thing is for sure, if we take Bafana to Gqeberha, Cape Town, Rustenburg, Mpumalanga or Polokwane, for instance, people will flock to the stadium and bring back the pride in playing for the national team. They would make it a point that our players feel the support and appreciation from the millions of South African footballcrazy supporters they are representing on the field of play. These people don’t have as many options as their Gauteng-based counterparts. Even the Mother City, with the Cape Town Stadium still not ready for use until the end of this month, would have provided a much better atmosphere for Bafana at Athlone Stadium than what we saw at Orlando! This is just not on and should never be allowed to continue any further than it has done already. Let’s bring back the pride and honour in wearing the Bafana jersey by supporting the team through thick and thin, just like other countries are doing. Surely that’s not too much to ask from a so-called football-mad country, especially when our team hasn’t put a foot wrong in recent times. You’d expect a lot more enthusiasm for Bafana games when you consider the good results they have been getting lately.

For our players to really enjoy playing for the national team and express their God-given talent at their level best, they certainly need the motivation of the 12th man in the stands. For there to be a conducive atmosphere, where everyone will give their all and rally behind the team, the supporters have to be there. We can’t allow our players to continue playing in front of empty stadiums and turn a blind eye to this disservice to our team. Even if we are not looking to make money from gate-takings, psychologically it is just not right for our players to share their talent in front of empty stadiums! We’ve got to recreate the habit of almost everyone going to Bafana games. When the national team plays, everything else stops because we are all patriotic enough to want to see and know what is going on with our team. These days, it is like some people don’t even know when our national team is playing and that’s a sorry state of affairs. We have to look forward to our Bafana games, just like – if not more – it is the case with the ‘big teams’ fixtures that we always look forward to whenever season fixtures are released. Football supporters have been magnificent, so far this campaign, supporting their teams wholeheartedly. It has been beautiful to witness even midweek games getting close to capacity crowds. That’s what we want to see even at Bafana games! People are travelling across the length and breadth of the country to support their respective teams, but why are we not seeing the same commitment for Bafana?

The scary part is the fact that even when tickets are made freely available, we still don’t get a decent crowd to watch our players in action in Gauteng. We are talking about a national team here! When people are willing to part with their hard-earned money, supporting their teams, more times than they do for the now and then national team matches, surely something is not right! However, to get the best out of our team, we need to take them to the people who really want to watch them play rather than where they are convenient and comfortable. Maybe once the Gautengers see the level of competition in hosting our national team, their consumer behaviour will change for the better. A new Bafana ‘home’ is what the doctor has ordered to take place for the betterment of the reception our team gets from its people. Sometimes you don’t realise what you have until it is gone. This is not the first time this call is made on this platform, but we will never get tired of stating the truth. Maybe, now is the time for all of us to swallow our pride and accept that Gauteng is not the place to be for Bafana, until further notice. Let’s give other provinces a chance to taste hosting our national team and we will definitely notice a change in the attendance figures.

We always criticise the players and coaches, but we have to be fair enough to introspect and get our act together. Until we have done all we can do to support the team, we have no place to be unhappy with their performances. We can’t pick and choose games we attend and then think we have a right to demand excellent performances from the team we claim to support. We can’t continue to see these ugly scenes of empty stadiums whenever Bafana represent the country. It is not right for our national team and as one of the top 10 leagues in the continent, with some of the best resources, surely we can do better to support our team! Something is really not right and taking Bafana out of Gauteng will go a long way in improving stadium attendance figures for our national team’s games. Gauteng isn’t the only SA province but just one of nine equally important others. They are also not the designated hosts of our national team, even though our Association’s headquarters are based there, this team belongs to everyone who is South African and therefore it is time this is reflected in the way their games are spread across the country. Rather we play in front of a capacity crowd ‘away’ than seeing our players greeting empty chairs in our ‘home’ ground. Saturday’s game was a bore and the players and technical team need to take full responsibility for that. However, we can’t continue to watch our team play in empty stadiums! This is a national team, for goodness’ sake! When Bafana play, everything else has to be on a standstill! Period!

Before you get carried away and think of reminding this writer of the good atmosphere at Orlando on Tuesday, when Bafana hosted DR Congo, please be reminded that it was another egg on the face for South African football supporters! The Congolese dominated their hosts in the stands, despite losing the game 1-0 and both Man of the Match Lyle Foster and coach Broos lamented the poor turnout of the locals and being dominated in their own backyard.