A big day for SA sport

IN A sports-mad country like ours, today is sup- posed to be a red-letter day. We are hosting three international matches – in rugby against New Zealand in Cape Town, in soccer against Bur- kina Faso in Johannesburg and in cricket against Bangladesh in Bloemfontein. In Cape Town, if there is a full house, it will be largely because the All Blacks probably have their biggest single fan base outside the country here. The build-up to this, once the greatest rivalry in rugby, has been understandably muted, given the All Blacks’ ruthless 57-0 demolition of the Boks a fortnight ago in the reciprocal fixture. In Johannesburg, the response for tickets has been unequivocal – nobody’s interested. Scheduled for the majestic 90 000-seater FNB Stadium, which ironically set a seating record in 2010 of 94 713 for the Bok-All Black clash, about 21 000 tickets had been sold by yesterday. We will see all too graphically later on tele- vision today when the whistle blows for the kickoff, whether organisers have been suc- cessful in the myriad initiatives they have employed to drum up support. The danger, though, is not of bruised national pride, but the collapse of Bafana Bafana and the Springboks as viable entities. Fans expect their teams to win; sponsors de- mand they win – for a return on their investment. Teams experience ebbs and flows in their fortunes, but the stakes aren’t as high for us mortals as they are for the superstars who command our TV screens. When the fans start turning away in their droves, the magical link between them and their team – and the tens of thousands they spend sup- porting them and the millions they represent to potential sponsors and advertisers goes with them. In the immortal words of Liverpool coach Bill Shankly: “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I’m very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”