Inclusion of other clubs in ‘Beer Cup’ a possibility

THE organisers of the lucrative preseason clash between Kaizer Chiefs and the Orlando Pirates have not closed the door on the possibility of inviting other Premier Soccer League clubs to participate in the money-spinning off-season event in future.

South Africa’s most popular clubs meet at the FNB Stadium on Saturday in the latest instalment of the Carling Black Label Champion Cup – and, as has been norm in the seven years of its existence‚ tickets to the event were sold out days ago.

But the game has its share of critics and Anheuser-Busch InBev events manager Puso Makume had to answer questions about the exclusion of the other PSL clubs from a showcase that rakes in millions of rand in revenue every year.

While Makume was reluctant to wade into a potential minefield‚ he said the door was not closed on the possibility of the two-member exclusive club welcoming guests in the future.

‘‘Look‚ Black Label is now the official alcohol sponsor of the Premier Soccer League and we do not know what that will bring‚” he said yesterday.

‘‘Our bosses, before they give us money to do something else‚ we need to first find the proper research to understand whether will it work.

‘‘So there are a lot of things in the background that are happening that I can’t really talk about.

‘‘But we are listening‚ that is what I’m saying‚ we are taking everything into account that the consumers and fans are fighting about.”

Tickets to the Champion Cup match were officially sold out 12 days ahead of the encounter, despite a social media campaign to boycott it.

Some fans still complain about the Cup’s existence on the calendar seven years after its inception and argue that it should never have replaced what used to be the domestic season’s traditional opener – The Charity Cup.

But this does not seem to matter to the thousands of fans who turn out in huge numbers yearly.

The event remains as popular as ever despite its gimmick element – and Makume said the organisers were never really bothered when they heard about the campaign to boycott this year’s game.

‘‘They [social media campaigns] do not bother me, because I believe this event is big enough to conquer that on its own‚” he said.

‘‘It’s like trying to get involved in altercation between a man and his wife – it’s not for us,” he said.

‘‘So we are focusing on the game‚ that is what’s happening‚ on the game between Chiefs and Pirates – and the Carling Black Label Cup. “That’s what we are doing. ‘‘As you can see with the votes‚ as you can see with the tickets being sold out, consumers are still going to come to this encounter at the FNB Stadium and I’m pretty confident that it will actually be full.

Carling Black Label brand director Samori Gambrah said it was expected that the votes would increase to eight million by the time the last vote was counted, at the end of the week.

This is a massive improvement from the 3.5 million votes by fans amassed last year.

The friendly battle – nicknamed ‘‘The Beer Cup” by soccer fans – has seen more people go through the turnstiles than a Springboks rugby test against New Zealand‚ Bafana Bafana matches‚ soccer cup finals and even official PSL games between Amakhosi and the Pirates.

Strict traffic-control measures by the Johannesburg metro police and Gauteng Traffic will be in operation around the 2010 World Cup stadium from 7am on Saturday.