Green blood pulses through her veins
The love and passion for the beautiful game came at an early age for Bloemfontein Celtic’s No 1 fan Mamello Makha. She was just seven when she started going to the stadiums, attending almost every Celtic game around the Free State.
This all happened because of her mother, who was a vendor and sold food, drinks and snacks outside the stadiums where Phunya Sele Sele played. From then on, Makha started to fall in love with the game, which she played at a young age, but her calling was to be part of the green and white Siwelele army.
“It just happened that I would accompany my mother when she was selling food at the stadiums. I slowly started to follow football,” she told Phakaaathi.
“I remember I was still young around that time, I was only seven years old when I went to the stadiums with her. Free State people are huge supporters of Celtic and because of that I also became a Siwelele. It was fun during those days because I used to love how passionate the football fans were even though at that time I didn’t really understand football. But I learned the game and grew with it.”
Makha became a recognisable figure when she began going to the stadium wearing a wide-brimmed sombrero, which she got from a Mexican fan during the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
She says she loved the sombrero so much because it fitted her fashion sense. She decided to ask the fan if she could have it.
The hat made her well known and one could easily spot her during the Celtic games. Unfortunately, the hat got damaged at some point and she had to order another one from overseas.
“I asked him for his hat and he politely said to me we could swap. I gave him my Bafana shirt. I didn’t mind because I knew I could get another one, but the sombrero was special,” she continued.
“But as time went on, the hat got damaged and I had to order another one. After a couple of months it got damaged again and I couldn’t get another one because it was way too expensive. That’s why people have not seen me wearing it.”
The 28-year-old is one of the few South African female fans who attend at least three matches on match day as well as other sporting codes and from time to time she leaves her family and child behind. She permanently moved to Gauteng after she completed her diploma at UJ, and has become a Gauteng resident but continues to follow her beloved Phunya
Sele Sele around the country. Her love for football and other sports earned her an ambassadorial role at the Gauteng Sports Awards and she is also in the running for Sports Fan-of-the-Year for the awards to be held in September.
“It was great to be recognised by Gauteng. I was chosen as an ambassador of sport and they took me to Brazil. It was really great and I learned a lot about the power of sport. Sport brings people together, that’s why you see everybody at matches so happy.”
Despite having good moments most of this year, the last couple of months have been amazing for Makha, but there was a point when she was stressed along with the people of Bloemfontein because their club was put up for sale.
“People in Bloemfontein were furious, everyone, from young children to our grandparents, couldn’t bear the thought of Celtic being sold and relocating. We were really going through tough times and it was very stressful because we feel like the club is like part of our family. When they were going to take it away from us they would have taken a part of our soul. We are just so happy they are staying in the Free State.”