Downs supporters respond to Saddam!

Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana prominent supporter, Saddam Maake, made the following comment in his interview with Soccer Laduma about the return of the supporters to the stadium. What has become evident, the comment didn’t sit well with some of the Masandawana faithful, if their reaction on all platforms is anything to go by. The man affectionately known, among a litany of nicknames, as “A Football Slave,” said, in part, “Now we are talking about 50% attendance and that only applies to Chiefs and Orlando Pirates because (Mamelodi) Sun

downs belong to 20% like these other teams. Their team has been doing well, winning trophies every season and dominating and they have money and everything. Even when their president (Patrice Motsepe) allows them free entry, they still can’t fill the stadium up. What more do they want in order to support their team? I’m challenging Sundowns supporters to prove me wrong. When their team is playing, let us see them dominating the 50% space instead of just 57 supporters that have been attending their games all along.” This publication caught up with three of the prominent supporters from the Chloorkop-based team to get their reaction to the challenge as well as how the team has been performing.

Saddam must mind his own business!

Vuyani Joni: “Mzekezeke”, we are sure you saw Saddam Maake’s challenge to Mamelodi Sundowns supporters two weeks ago.

Robert Nkosi: Before addressing the Saddam Maake comment, let me make it clear that one day one of these teams won’t show up for their fixture against Mamelodi Sundowns because they know it is obvious that they will lose. If only they allowed Sundowns to play the France national team, we’d be talking a different story now. I’m appealing to all the DStv Premiership teams to lift their socks so that they can challenge Sundowns. If we continue to dominate them like we do now, we will be like PSG (Paris Saint-Germain) when they get to the Champions League, when we go represent the country in the continent. They struggle to even get to the quarterfinals because they face no competition at home. Secondly, I’m appealing to the supporters to take advantage of this opportunity to return to the stadium and support our teams. There are some teams who win through their supporters as their 12th player. Let me deal with the Saddam comment… I agree with him because it is his job to challenge people. However, I feel his challenge is misplaced! It doesn’t help much for him to challenge us to go to the stadium, only for his club to finish the season empty-handed. I think he should be going to Naturena to challenge and plead with his team to lift a trophy just like Sundowns. He must challenge them to come and learn from Sundowns instead of trying to fight us. Saddam is right and I also heard his coach, Stuart Baxter, urging the supporters to come back and support the team, but we only need real supporters, not those who want to become coaches from the stands.

VJ: Right. He said even with free entrance, you still fail to show up in numbers despite the good form and dominance by your team…

RN: (Cuts in) Saddam must mind his own business! Charity begins at home, they say. So, you must first clean your own house before talking about your neighbour’s house being dirty. Let him go and fill up FNB Stadium instead of them taking their games to different venues across the country, where they fill the stadium. Fill up FNB Stadium and then talk about your neighbour playing in front of a relatively empty stadium. As Sundowns supporters, we are always behind our team, not only when it is nice to do so. To the Yellow Nation, let’s rally behind the team at the stadium because we can all see that the team is doing exceptionally well, just like we always wished for. This is what Sundowns was always supposed to be like all these years. It looks like we are taking everything on offer this season, while others are watching in disbelief.

VJ: As a passionate Sandawana, how does it make you feel to be part of a team that’s been so dominant and playing a great brand of football?

RN: I feel extremely happy, but our happiness is creating enemies now. I can’t even walk freely on the streets anymore. I can’t even wave at people like I used to, without them thinking I’m mocking them. If I wave with a

hand, they think I’m bragging about the five goals we scored. If I give them a ‘thumbs up’ sign, they think I’m talking about the six goals, so I really don’t know what to do anymore.

VJ: What do you say to the team’s management, technical team, players and everyone associated with the club for the good job so far?

RN: You know when the management hired the three coaches, they were immediately called names and we were mocked. All eyes were on our three coaches and they were then nicknamed Meshack, Shadrack and Abednego, and who is laughing now?

May our technical team, management, players and support staff continue with their great job of putting smiles on our faces.

VJ: Mzakesman, thanks so much. RN: Forward Ka Bo Yellow, Forward!

I understand where Saddam’s coming from

Vuyani Joni: Bishop, happy times continue in the Sundowns camp.

Dan Motona: We are always happy. Everywhere we go, we are sporting a smile all the time and that can only be happiness. The board of directors, president, chairman, management, technical staff, players, the guys from the office as well as us, the supporters, we thank everyone who continues to play a role in helping this team. We are all united and happy. May we continue this way.

VJ: Two weeks ago, Saddam Maake challenged you – the supporters – to show up in numbers and support your team.

DM: Saddam is my colleague and friend, so I understand where he was coming from. It is just that there were issues that led to some people not coming to the stadium even though they’d have loved to, when the gates were initially opened. You must also remember that some people are still skeptical about the vaccination, but we are all learning as we go along because this is something new to all of us. I believe we will improve our attendance figures as we go along and I have no doubt about that.

VJ: What’s your message to the team supporters, especially with the 50% capacity allowed now?

DM: We can only encourage our supporters to come out in their numbers and support the team. There is a process that needs to be followed because we are only talking about vaccinated supporters. We must arrive at the stadium on time so that we can do everything we need to do with the guys from the Department of Health so that there are no delays or problems.

VJ: Thanks for your time, Bishop. DM: Thank you, Vuyani.

Saddam has a problem!

Vuyani Joni: Bassie, how do you feel about the Brazilians so far? Basetsana Ntsweng:

I’m so happy to see our doing so well because we have invested a lot in doing things the right way. So, it feels great when our plans come together. For instance, there’s no gap between us and the club management, technical team and the players. We are always there to encourage one another. Throughout

the lockdown, Sundowns was the only team that still enjoyed support. Even though we were not allowed at the stadium, we always carried our placards with messages of support for our team outside their hotel and even the stadium. We were there for every game because we wanted them to always feel our support. Now we are extremely happy and words fail me to actually explain the feeling. We want to see our dominance in the continent now so that we can get the second star above our badge. The team is really making us happy and we don’t want to see this feeling going away.

VJ: Saddam Maake, in his interview with Soccer Laduma two weeks ago, challenged Sundowns supporters to show up and give back to the team for making them so happy.

BN: No, Saddam has a problem! He needs to understand that things aren’t normal after COVID-19 hit us. For example, just recently, we lost one of our prominent supporters through a vaccination-related illness. Remember when we went to Namibia, to launch our supporters’ branch, we had to go via Botswana. We had to go for the booster vaccine and our fellow supporter didn’t respond well to the booster and eventually succumbed to it and sadly and untimely passed away. This happened before the gates were open to the supporters who had to be vaccinated to get in. Now, after what happened with one of our own, what impact do you think this has had in terms of people going to get the jab and all that? Everyone is worried and scared for their lives because if that unfortunate incident happened to our loved supporter, chances are it can happen to anyone else. So, this is a very sensitive issue that needs to be handled with care. Our colleague slept all the way from Namibia, complaining

about the pain he was feeling from the side of his body where the jab was administered. He couldn’t even beat the drums in Namibia because of the pain, which troubled him for about a week until his untimely passing. People are still in shock and the sad reality is that most football supporters are not vaccinated yet. Now, this unfortunate incident happened while we were busy encouraging our fellow supporters to get a jab. Do you think it will be easy for the very same supporters to go get vaccinated without fearing for their lives?

VJ: Fair enough.

BN: Saddam just needs to relax because Chiefs isn’t doing well. Saddam is just bitter, bitter, bitter and that’s why I didn’t even bother to respond to his comments. He says Sundowns have 57 supporters, so how can 57 people fill up a stadium? He must just leave us with our 57 supporters in peace. We’ve been cheering our team on and we are appreciated by everyone at the club, all 57 of us. We go all out for our team and even the supporters who are not vaccinated yet were there for our first game. They formed a guard of honour for our team outside the team’s hotel because they couldn’t get inside the stadium. What more does Saddam want from us? Saddam has a problem and, just like the other negative supporters, he needs to keep quiet and accept that Sundowns is the number one team now. There used to be bigger teams than Sundowns, but gone are those days now. They must just accept that we are a good team, stop complaining and support their team just like all 57 of us are doing for our team.

VJ: Moving on, Bassie, it must be a really great time to be a Sundowns supporter.

BN: I always say we are lucky to have management and technical teams that we have in our team. In a month or so, we will be going to an Indaba, which we hold bi-annually. This is where the supporters’ leadership, the president, management, technical team and players meet and discuss the team. This is where, through our leadership, we express our views and get the updates and all the information from the technical team, management, president and even players in return. So if, for example, we are not happy with a certain player – for whatever reason – we will let our national leadership know about it so that it can be addressed by the club and they feedback to us. Our views are always taken into consideration because there’s no gap between us and the club management. If we have supporters’ events, the club will send players and legends… even representatives from the management do grace our events whenever possible. We’ve been recruiting a lot of new supporters who come from other teams and you can tell that they’re not used to our way of doing things. They still believe in booing players and all that, but we keep on teaching and disciplining them through our branch leadership. We even have annual team-building exercises among the 57 supporters and the team to keep the relationship going strong. We have each other’s back and that’s why our team has been doing so well. Saddam will just have to be strong and maybe the problem is that whenever he needs to visit Naturena, he has to make an appointment, otherwise he will be chased away by security. None of that happens with us, because we are one big and united family. We focus on our team and they focus on keeping their passionate 57 supporters happy.

VJ: Ha, ha, ha, let’s end it on that note, Bassie. Thanks so much for your time.

BN: Ha, ha, ha, you’re welcome, my brother. ❐