Beautiful Game has been ruined in South Africa
THE selling of Bloemfontein Celtic Football Club's status is yet another indication of how the Beautiful Game is ruined in South Africa.
How is a 52-year-old brand like Celtic, which is the Pride of the Free State province, allowed to be sold out of the province without exhausting all the possible avenues within the Free State?
The selling of Celtic may seem to be a provincial issue, but in the bigger scheme of things, it is a blow to football across the country. What Celtic did in the Free State was a model for other provinces to follow, and in this, the game and the country stood to benefit in monumental ways.
Celtic, for example, is arguably the only club that matches, if not surpasses, the Big Three clubs – Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns in terms of fan base during their home ground games against them.
This means that the sponsorship and advertising revenue for the province is significantly more powerful than in many other provinces outside Gauteng. Here we talk about job creation, business and economic development. Now that is gone.
And if you look at the growing success and popularity of the Macufe Cup, which has serious economic spinoffs for this province, the absence of Celtic in the province will weaken the social mobility of this region.
The social cohesion and development of the youth of the Free State is likely to be hampered as the reality of football-loving people's most precious institution has been taken away from them, without their input in the matter.
This is an injustice of great proportions. It has devastated the spirit of the Free State footballing community.
Think of the thousands, if not the millions, of young kids of this province who dream of one day playing for the club as juniors who then can graduate to the first team and in the highest league in their country or elsewhere, including the national team.
In the words of our founding president Nelson Mandela: “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.”
Following the sale of Bidvest Wits just recently, which is the oldest club that was playing in the highest division in the land, a message is being sent again to the supporters of the game and the players, that they come last when matters relating to the management and leadership of the clubs they love are concerned.
In the case of Celtic, what is even more disturbing and cruel is that its former owner, Demetri “Jimmy” Augousti, had approached the boss who succeeded him, Max Tshabalala, on two occasions to try to buy back the club. This purchase, had it gone through, would have kept the club in the Free State.
What is the purpose of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) and Safa if a people's jewel since 1969 like Celtic can just be taken away without its supporters and branches having a say in the matter?
With thousands of fans donning their “Siwelele” attire at home fixtures, and the business community linked to football in the Free State, there is no doubt that supporters and local business could have prevented the sale of the club outside the province.
As the national football fraternity, we have a responsibility to fight such injustices in our football.
We must not only vow but also act to ensure that what has happened to the people of the Free State doesn't happen again. We can do this by taking our regional Safa leadership to task and demand that there must be Supporters Participation and Involvement Forums.
To the people of the Free State, the soccer fraternity feels your pain. We are with you all the way. Be rest assured by the words of Justice Cabral: “When God takes away something from your hand, don't think He's punishing you. He is merely emptying your hand for you to receive something better. Have Faith.”