This follows a massive outcry that even saw political parties getting involved and threatening to march to the minister’s office and the South African Football Association’s headquarters demanding flexibility and relaxing of the COVID-19 regulations to allow a limited number of vaccinated supporters back to the stadium after almost two seasons of absence. “This thing of not allowing people to the stadiums, it is not SAFA nor PSL that takes decisions, it is government that gets recommendations from health specialists. So we wait for them to advise,” Minister Mthethwa said, speaking at the Phansi Museum in Durban last Monday.
“So we ask for patience as we are all guided by the health committee, SAFA or PSL cannot take decisions by themselves. We are hopeful, as the country is slowly opening up as the numbers are declining.”
The Minister also revealed that there was a meeting scheduled for this week, which will hopefully put a smile on football supporters’ faces.
“We will wait for the Command Council to sit and discuss, then advise us. They are set to meet next week.”
In October 2021, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, amended regulation 69 of the Disaster Management Act to allow a maximum of 2 000 football supporters into the stadium. This move saw passionate football supporters mark their return to the stadium to watch Bafana Bafana host Ethiopia at FNB Stadium for the first time since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a pilot project that proved to be a success not just for the supporters but small business and informal sector. It came as no surprise when the same number of supporters was allowed into the MTN8 final between Mamelodi Sundowns and Cape Town City at Moses Mabhida Stadium. Another successful pilot project, but what has happened since then? We saw political rallies drawing tens of thousands of vociferous congregants gracing our match venues, the same venues that had been barred from hosting even a maximum of 2 000 football supporters, attending rallies ahead of the 2021 local government elections. What happened to the amended regulation?
While it is well and good for the Minister to update the masses on the progress made, there are a couple of questions that need to be answered. Why were football supporters left behind when the Command Council sat and agreed to allow rugby and cricket supporters back at the stadium? Are football supporters inferior to their rugby or cricket counterparts? Do football supporters not matter and are not worthy of the same treatment as their rugby and cricket counterparts? Is the COVID-19 pandemic more prevalent to football supporters than those of rugby and cricket? What message are we sending out there to the ordinary South Africans with this apparent segregation? Cricket and rugby journalists have been attending press conferences and matches, while football journalists have had to depend on virtual pressers and two-minute WhatsApp voicenotes sent to everyone by the club media officers, as they’re barred from match venues. Ironic!
In a country where football is the number one sport, two of the most important stakeholders are treated as second-class citizens! Political press conferences are always a hive of activity with full media coverage, but not when it comes to football. This is not a political point but just a view that needs to be expressed. We can’t continue like this. We all have equal rights in this democratic country of ours and therefore if it is safe for rugby and cricket to have supporters at the stadium, surely the same rules should apply to football! It doesn’t make sense that our supporters are seemingly discriminated against. Yes, the pandemic isn’t over, but if it feasible for rugby and cricket to allow fully vaccinated supporters into the stadium, the least we expect is the same principles to be applied to football supporters as well.
We can’t continue to watch cricket and rugby on television with a section of supporters, while football is played in front of empty seats. Who stands to benefit from this arrangement? It has been almost two seasons now since football supporters were last at the stadium, and what does that do for our football? We just watched jam-packed stadiums in Cameroon during the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and that didn’t mean there was no COVID-19. Plans we put in place to ensure that everyone was safe from any potential spread of this virus. We are not demanding full-capacity attendance, just enough people to create a conducive atmosphere and resuscitate the economy for those who have been hamstrung by this pandemic and the ban from the stadiums, and left with no income at all. It is not enough that we have live games on television. We want to go to the stadium just like our rugby and cricket counterparts and that’s surely not too much to ask of the powers that be.
The bottom line is that if there is a way around COVID-19 for cricket and rugby, surely there should be a way around it for football as well. We can’t have football supporters left behind as if they don’t matter. The Coronavirus Command Council should have made it a point that all sporting codes received the same treatment, terms and conditions from the word go instead of what seems to be putting priority to cricket and rugby. As things stand, one can’t help but think that football supporters are being taken for a ride here! This, in return, has a knock-on effect on the Beautiful Game as more and more people are slowly losing interest in South African football. The fact that even television viewership is dwindling says a lot because people are fed up with watching ‘practice games’ on their televisions. If there is a Premier League game at the same time as the DStv Premiership clash, it doesn’t take rocket science to understand why a lot of people would rather tune in to the Premier League game. Can you blame those who have lost interest in local football? Can you blame football supporters for feeling left out and taken for a ride by their own people? Something has to give. We just can’t carry on as if nothing has happened while we watch other sporting codes enjoying having their supporters and media back at the stadium.
