Soccer bosses must improve the security at SA stadiums

WHAT happened at the Carling Black Label final was heartbreaking and the team bosses have shown no remorse.

The exponential growth of money in football has been unbelievable and clubs enjoy the kind of brand loyalty even Apple can only dream of.

In fact, many supporters will shrug their shoulders and focus their attention on who their club is preparing to lavish millions on in club operations.

Kaizer Chiefs football manager Bobby Motaung was once quoted as saying Chiefs was a “family club”, to stop us questioning the club activities.

The Liverpool legend, Bill Shankly, was synonymous with the “life and death” quote about football and his team at Anfield.

The comparison between football and religion is almost as old as the game itself. Faith is the lifeblood of a club that keeps fans coming back through thick and thin.

After Saturday’s stampede at the FNB Stadium, the police spokesperson, however, admitted the incident that led to catastrophic death of two passionate soccer fanatics and others succumbing to serious injuries could’ve been easily prevented.

As expected, supporters are treated as culprit to perpetrate all the chaos that happened at the FNB Stadium, blamed for arriving too late on match day.

It’s a way of deflecting us from the grim, exploitative present to an imagined past in which all problems are erased.

There were alarming red flags prior to the incident about how our vulnerable security team poorly handled massed supporters on derby day and now history repeated itself.

It was inevitable there would be bloodshed despite having a heavy police contingent to restore law and order.

The stampede was inevitable, considering the record number of tickets sold prior to the match and the expectations from passionate soccer fanatics. Inexplicably. none sees the security negligence despite having a dubious history of poorly handling fans on derby match day.

George Orwell penned his now-famous dystopian novel, 1984, with the words “the larger evils invariably escaped their notice”.

Perhaps discontent or blaming each other led us nowhere, but we could find a constructive solution that could improve our game and make sure a tragic incident doesn’t happen again.

We know what happened at Ellis Park in 2001 when 43 people died, but we don’t seem to have learnt a lesson from there.

Our security staff at stadiums are still vulnerable and have been exposed many times while the team bosses pocket big money from the tournaments.

It’s about time clubs prioritise their supporters’ safety as much as they do team profit.