Johannesburg — Local football appears to be far off from being "the beautiful game" nowadays. While the fans of other sporting codes are reeling with excitement that they can fill up 50% of the stadiums going forward, football lovers are still left in the cold.
SuperSport Park — which hosted the ODI series between South Africa and Bangladesh — and SA Rugby wasted no time in saying that they’ll conform to the President’s speech on Tuesday, that fans can fill up stadiums to half-the-capacity.
However, the football heads, SAFA and the PSL continued to be like chalk and cheese. President Danny Jordaan told SAFA's media department yesterday afternoon that “we are very happy" and "welcome the decision" to re-open the stadiums.
But the PSL had other sentiments. In a press release that was seen by IOL Sport, from the PSL acting chief executive Mato Madla, to their members she said: “The existing protocols will remain in place until varied by the executive committee."
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The meeting is set for March 28 where they will “consider the extent to which the league Covid-19 Regulations can or should be adopted”. That didn’t go down well with some members of the fraternity who feel they have been here before.
Before the recent amendments, all the sporting codes were granted access to allow 2000 vaccinated fans to their matches. SAFA carried that through. But the PSL used the MTN8 final as a pilot game before returning to playing in empty stadiums.
But it’s not that they didn’t exercise the right of having the fans at the stadium. They did, allowing the "2000 partners and sponsors" at the stadiums. A feat that has ensured the staunch fans away from live league games for over two years.
Given that they deemed the screening and observation of the Covid protocols before the game as costly for such few fans. But after Tuesday’s address that they can take in 50% of the spectators, they were expected to act differently, right?
So, with the league currently on a hiatus due to the Fifa international break, the PSL has until Friday next to reopen the stadiums. Already there’s outside noise that's gaining volume, saying the league is prioritising subscriptions with DStv.
Mamelodi Sundowns’ co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi is one of the people who think that fans are barred from the stadiums to increase tv subscriptions. Some journalists also have to report from tv as they are still barred from the stadiums.
In the midst of the absence of the fans inside the stadiums, there are teams that have struggled while others have soared. Kaizer Chiefs, the Cup Kings, are facing another barren season, while Sundowns have soared on the other hand.
Downs are enroute to win their fifth title in a row, and third since the outbreak of Covid-19, as they hold a 14-point lead at the top of the table. But competing in Africa has been an added boost as they welcomed back their fans against Al Ahly.
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As handful as they were, Downs’ faithful fans rallied behind their team as they ensured that they completed a double over Pitso Mosimane’s Ahly to qualify for the quarter-finals of the CAF Champions League, the African title they won in 2016.
The local fans continue to be starved of live football. Such that a handful of them marched to the Orlando Stadium on March 5, before the Soweto derby between Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, demanding for the re-opening of the stadiums.
Instead they were welcomed by heavy security, with no PSL officials in sight — although they had promised the National Football Supporters' Association that they’d receive the memorandum. Only for them to pull a no show at the end of the day.
But now that the government has given the PSL what they want, access to host at least 50% of the vaccinated fans and those who provide a negative PCR test, hopefully sanity will prevail and the fans will be back where they belong!
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IOL Sport