We exposed our players to danger!

Guys, most of you have heard this rant before but one is not going to grow weary of repeating and trying to emphasise the point of advocating for “Grade A” games not to be played in small match venues, like Danie Craven and Athlone Stadium, in the Western Cape, for example, as unpopular as this stance may be to a lot of people, especially the affected parties!

We all know that it is every football supporter’s right to have their favourite team play at their doorstep, instead of having to pay huge sums of money and sometimes taking more than one public transport to get to the stadium. This author is not oblivious to the struggle some of our people have to endure to get first-hand experience of watching live football, having seen and done it all. However, we cannot and should not compromise when it comes to the footballers’ safety and security. This also applies to the safety and security of our football custodians, the supporters. What happened at Danie Craven on Sunday sent shivers down one’s spine, when we saw hundreds of supporters invading the pitch after the final whistle. That is the last thing we want to see in our football!

There is huge security risk when hundreds of supporters jump onto the field, resulting in everyone running for cover fearing the unknown. Even television post-match interviews had to be organised away from the field, where they normally take place, because it was just chaotic. Imagine, God forbid, a disgruntled supporter assaulting an opposition player who has ‘cost’ his team – at the risk of sounding like casting aspersion on the supporters – and then what? Yes, thankfully, the supporters were excited to be in close proximity with some of their favourite players and getting to hold their hand and hug them is an experience of a lifetime, granted, but there is time and place for that. Should anything go wrong, how do the law enforcement agencies control the situation? Did anyone notice the fear in the players’ eyes after they found themselves ‘holed’ in by the supporters who decided to flock the field, with the changing rooms so far away from them to run to? The players were visibly overwhelmed and didn’t know whether to embrace the supporters or run for cover. Talk about an awkward and unnecessary moment for our players to find themselves in.

This doesn’t mean the supporters are bad people or that no good is expected of them but the reality is that, once again, there is a place and time for the supporters to mingle with the players. The football field, after the final whistle, isn’t one of those places. Clubs hold activations from time to time, where supporters get close and personal with their favourite players and the victory lap, after the game, is another form of appreciation by the players as they greet and dance with the supporters – that’s where it should end on match day. As South Africans, we tend to wait for things to happen and try to find a cure rather than preventing them from happening, in the first place. One feels, it is critically important for us to be proactive and avoid these bad things from happening in our football. Once they happen, we can’t undo them like we do on our computers, after typing out a few paragraphs. We, unwittingly, exposed our prized assets – the footballers and coaches – to danger but one is grateful that nothing bad happened. Having said that, may what happened on Sunday be the last lesson we probably needed before we realised the need to avert the inevitable. We can’t have supporters getting used to invading the pitch because that sends a terrible message about our football, as this is not the first time something like this has happened at Danie Craven. We’ve seen the horrific impact loss of lives at the stadiums has had to our football. Some families are still dealing with the loss of the loved ones from the 2001 Ellis Park disaster, as their lives have never been the same since that fateful night. No one wants to go through that again! We need to protect our players from any potential harm and ensure that the supporters, who go to the stadium, come back safe and sound. As supporters, we also need to play our role in ensuring our own safety. Reprimand one another when we are doing things, obviously in an appropriate manner. Let’s avoid any action that doesn’t serve football in any way. We should do away with pitch-invasion, whether we are on the winning or losing side. To get closer to our footballers, let’s make use of the activations organised by our teams rather than jumping the parameter boards just to meet your favourite player. By the way, you are not only putting the players’ lives at risk or that of the fellow supporters but yours as well, as anything can happen. This is how stampedes usually start and we have to get this behaviour completely out of our system. This is uncalled for, and we should do better, as supporters. There’s really no place for this kind of conduct in our football. We need to start holding one another accountable and responsible at match venues, especially those who belong in supporters’ branches. Come what may, we should never put anyone’s life in danger at football match venues. This is supposed to be our happy and safe place but, when things get out of hand, it becomes chaotic and unruly, putting so many lives in danger. Arriving late and forcing the game to be delayed has a negative impact on the game, as it disrupts everything. We can do better by arriving early so that we don’t become the reason the game gets delayed.

There’s also the smoking gang that sees nothing wrong with inhaling and exhaling their stuff in the presence of kids and everyone around them. Guys, surely you can find a safe ‘smoking’ area where you can enjoy your ‘holy herb’ or cigarette without making everyone else secondary smokers and making them ill. Surely, even in the comfort of our homes, one presumes we don’t indulge ourselves in the company of those who don’t take part in the puff and pass business. “Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you.” Surely, that’s not too much to ask!

Match officials, come on guys! Week in and week out, you are the talk of town for all the wrong reasons! Some of you are really putting the DStv Premiership into disrepute with your questionable performances. It is one thing to make mistakes, as we all do, but the controversial decisions we’ve witnessed in recent weeks leave a lot to be desired. It is really unacceptable to be complaining about match officials every week. This is getting out of hand and the last thing we need is for people to start with their conspiracy theories, believing there is more to the mistakes we’ve seen than meets the eye. Let us sort ourselves out and protect our football because it is all some of us have, as both entertainment and business. Something has to give because match officials are some of the most important people in the game of football. We just can’t continue like this, and one hopes things will get better.