Violent lessons
SOUTH Africa, as a country, used its turbulent and violent history as a torch with which to negotiate the dark and difficult challenges it faced as a nation. Because – and the context is as clear as daylight – if the lessons of history aren’t heeded, then invariably, inevitably, the past will be repeated. Unfortunately, South African football has palpably failed to listen to its history. As a consequence, the crowd violence that has plagued the sport for decades has continued unabated.
Today, football is red-faced in front of the nation again. It stands accused of paying lip service to issues around crowd trouble and failing to act decisively to eradicate the cancer. On Saturday, at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, after Kaizer Chiefs were beaten 2-0 by Free State Stars in a Nedbank Cup semi-final, Amakhosi supporters ran amok, destroying property and attacking people in an orgy of violence. Videos circulating of a female security guard being set upon by a mob and brutally kicked highlighted the barbaric nature of the rampaging hooligans. The damage to the stadium is expected to run into millions of rand.
Just last week, Chiefs were fined R250 000 (R200 000 suspended) for crowd trouble; last year, two people were killed during a stampede outside the FNB Stadium; just 12 days ago, it was the anniversary of the Ellis Park Stadium disaster when, on April 11, 2001, 43 people were crushed to death; add to that, the 1991 Orkney tragedy, violent incidents at Ellis Park in 1998, and further crowd trouble at the FNB Stadium and Vosloorus in 2000.
Did football learn from the past? Certainly not. Administrators say all the right things – but, in reality, and this is the crux of the matter: because the owners of Chiefs and Orlando Pirates are influential members of the PSL, “solutions” are cosmetic rather than emphatic. So it’s to be expected, with officials unable to send out a strong message, that supporters continue to harbour such a cavalier attitude to crowd violence.
But, if ever there is an opportunity for the PSL to act – strongly and decisively – then this is it: to here and no further. Enough lives have been lost, too many people have been injured; as a nation, we’ve had enough.