City needs to lift its game
HINDSIGHT, they say, is an exact science and, as such, the City of Cape Town should now have a much more informed idea of how to go about improving the Cape Town Cup. There is no doubt the weekend’s pre-season football event could have been better attended, but the City’s masters, driven by hubris, got off to a poor start in its organisation, and never recovered.
The Friday night crowd was around 7 000, while Sunday grew to slightly more than double that figure. The four clubs involved – Ajax Cape Town, SuperSport United, England’s Crystal Palace and eventual winners Sporting Lisbon of Portugal – produced some fantastic football. The crowd numbers certainly did not do justice to the high technical and tactical quality delivered by the European clubs.
Right from the get-go, the ticket prices were a problem. While between R200 and R400 each would appear to be the going rate for international sides, especially with the current exchange rate and the appearance fees commanded by European clubs, the reality is that Cape Town’s football followers aren’t rabidly attracted to Sporting or Palace.
In this city of ours, if you aren’t Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, well, then you have to do something different to get them interested. It doesn’t take rocket science to understand that. But, perhaps, if the City’s officious administrators took a moment to step down from their lofty perches and stuffy offices and tried to see the world through the eyes of the common people – those who actually love and religiously support the game – they would have a clearer understanding of how to market a football tournament. The Cape Town Cup certainly proved they have no idea.
If you have invited clubs like Sporting and Palace, who are obviously lower in the esteem of the Cape’s football-mad public, then you have to be more innovative and a lot more creative in your marketing and promotion of the event. Because late last week, by the time the tickets were reduced to between R60 and R100 each, the City had already lost the trust of the public.
For example, why not think about inviting Kaizer Chiefs, the biggest drawcard in SA football? How about getting a school choir to sing the national anthems, and why not go into the schools, bus the kids into the stadium and, in that way, attract the parents? There are many other things that could have been done. In short, market better, promote better, think outside the box, get out there and meet the people halfway… Arrogance gets you nowhere!