Superfans make beautiful game the spectacle it is

During my childhood, there was a team called Kgobadi Swallows at Moletlane village in Zebediela. The team was not the best in the area, but it was the most popular, thanks to the antics of the superfan called Shetja. He would sit behind the opposition’s goalkeeper, waiting for him to make a crucial save so that he could hit him with stones, much to the amusement of the home crowd.

Shetja was a crowd puller, much akin to what Saddam Maake was to Kaizer Chiefs. Maake had a blow horn which he named the vuvuzela, and in later years, it became a soccer fan’s accessory in the stadiums.

Before the advent of smartphones, taking a photo with Maake was serendipitous. He was a crowd puller who would woo fans to the stadium with his hype on various radio stations.

Football fans are important stakeholders in football. It is also normal for soccer teams to have superfans who also serve as ambassadors to their teams. Maake’s jabs with the late Orlando Pirates superfan Mzion Mofokeng were unmatched.

While Mofokeng was beating drums and dancing with fellow fans at Orlando Stadium, in Bloemfontein Manny “Bishop” Motsielo led war cries for Bloemfontein Celtic supporters. He wore a green and white gown and carried a Bible around the stadium as he prayed for his beloved team’s success. When he was done with his “sermon”, he would join the Celtic fans in song and dance for 90 minutes.

Bishop’s death paved a way for Botha Msila and Mamello Makha who continued his legacy to rally behind the team. To their disappointment, the team was sold to Shauwn Mkhize who relocated it to Durban and renamed it Royal AM. Msila and Makha were left with no team to support. For his love of soccer, Msila chose to attend matches of other teams every week, while Makha probably followed the game on TV as she continued with life running her popular beauty salon in Pretoria.

MaMkhize went on to do the unthinkable as she signed up Joyce “Mama Joy” Chauke who in a jiffy ended her 32-year marriage with Orlando Pirates.

One Thursday morning, while busy with a manicure at her salon, Makha received a call from Sundowns management, urging her to forget about Celtic and join their team. During her unveiling as a new high-profile Sundowns supporter, she said she was ready to bring passion to the team.

Makha’s acquisition is a marketing strategy, because of her popularity on social media.

It has become a trend for companies to use celebrities to associate with their brands, riding on those personalities’ commercial magnet as influencers.

Makha can be seen as a perfect candidate for the role, but what about those supporters who resuscitated the Sundowns fan base, beating the drums and singing on the stands, rain or shine? Thanks to this loyal horde, the Sundowns brand and vibrancy can be equated to that of Liverpool in England. As much as Sundowns supporters are still trying to accommodate Makha as their superfan, they must just accept that as much as she look good in yellow, inside she’ll forever remain green and white.