Fans to own Swallows?

LESUFI’S PLAN: EDUCATION MEC REVEALS CROWD-FUNDING INITIATIVE

For a team with a history as rich as Moroka Swallows to find themselves playing in the fourth tier of local football is something no one finds any joy in – even the fans of rival teams.

Having been founded in October 1947, the Dube Birds are one of the oldest clubs in the country and, along with Orlando Pirates, are considered one of the two original Soweto clubs.

The club made its mark in topflight football in the 1950s and 1960s, winning the league title in 1965. The brand of the club grew enormously and they became the first football team to register as a company in 1971.

During the same year, they made history again when they became the first club to have an official sponsor after Teljoy came on board.

Such history is the reason why the Gauteng MEC for education Panyaza Lesufi is eager to see the club make its way back to top-flight football.

Lesufi has launched a crowd-funding initiative which will see the club being publicly owned.

Crowd funding in football will be something new to South African football but most teams in

According to a Wikipedia definition, crowd-funding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people. Crowd-funding is a form of crowd sourcing and of alternative finance.

Although the concept can also be executed through mail-order subscriptions, benefit events, and other methods, it is now often performed via Internet-mediated registries. This modern crowd-funding model is generally based on three types of actors: the project initiator who proposes the idea and/or project to be funded, individuals or groups who support the idea, and a moderating organisation (the “platform”) that brings the parties together to launch the idea.

Europe are using the same method Lesufi wants at Swallows.

“The likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain are doing the same thing and it has been

successful. You look at how those teams are doing in their country and you can tell this is something that can work for us,” said Lesufi.