It’s on and we need women to get involved
The weeks between July 15 and today have been the longest in history. Friends told me I was being dramatic when I said it feels like a year since the final of the Fifa World Cup. I think it is because of the lack of competitive football. But that wait has ended as the Absa Premiership kicks off today and in spectacular fashion, one must point out.
But today I want to address the flowers of the nation – our women. It is Women’s Month anyway although it started on a sour note with the #TotalShutDown campaign. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against the campaign. In fact I am fully behind it and if I could I would have happily taken part in the marches.
What I don’t understand is why women have to suffer so much at our hands that they have to start such campaigns. The abusers and rapists live among us and we go with them to stadiums to watch football and we also share drinks and smokes with them. They are you and me and only we can stop it.
Let me get back to the issue at hand. It is a pity the football season starts at the same time as the month where we should be giving our women attention and attending to their issues. This is why I am begging them to bear with us because this means we will be spending more time with namajita (friends) watching football. So
Sibongiseni Gumbi
please bear with us. It will only be until May next year. That’s not too long for you to leave without us annoying you with our silly questions when you watch your favourite TV soapies.
And on the odd occasion that we decide to stay with you on a Tuesday or Wednesday night when there is football please just hand the remote to us. I sense there will be many who will rath- er watch at home because there will be plenty of disappointment.
By this I do not mean you should not come with us to the stadiums to watch the game. Women are the backbone of this country and every team would perform even better if there were to be more of you on the stands as no one wants to disappoint their sister, aunt, mother or grandmother.
But I would be more comfortable inviting women to our games if we made them an environment that is accommodative of them. Some of our fans make the stadium unfriendly for women and children with their ill-behaviour.
You find others smoking carelessly in undesignated areas. Let us just make our game beautiful – there was a reason someone coined the mantra “beautiful game” for our beloved sport – so let us prove it right and behave as humanly as possible. Do not behave in a way that would shame your mother and grandmother so much that they would have to skip church because of embarrassment.
My wish for this season is to see more fans in the stands. These stadiums were built so that we can be comfortable so we need to utilise them right. Let us fill up Loftus, Lucas Moripe, Makhulong, FNB and Orlando Stadium this season. I can promise you the games will make it worthwhile judging by how teams have prepped for this season. Isukile! (It’s on).