The clash between Bloemfontein Celtic and Kaizer Chiefs made one believe that the PSL is the best league in Africa.
|||Johannesburg - Why can’t all our matches be as pleasant an experience as Sunday’s clash between Bloemfontein Celtic and Kaizer Chiefs?
Apart from the top drawer football dished out by the two sides, the overall experience at Bloemfontein’s Free State Stadium was the kind that made one buy into the hype that ours is the best league on the continent.
For one, the stadium was packed to capacity – a rarity given that most of our matches are watched by empty seats.
And as is the norm at Celtic matches the crowd made the arena bearable with their singing and dancing.
Surely it is about time that the Premier Soccer League acknowledged that Celtic have got the recipe to put bums on seats and approached them to share their ideas.
A week ago at a lunch with the PSL CEO Brand de Villiers, the league’s marketing man Peter Mancer was at pains trying to beg with us – the fourth estate – to help the league get fans back to the stadium.
Well, we can only do so much. But no amount of writing previews and selling matches as potential thrillers will do the job unless the club themselves have strategies to get their fans coming to matches.
One of the reasons Celtic are getting fans at their matches is because they are a provincial outfit that has managed to get just about everyone in the Free State to identify with them.
And the sooner clubs such as Polokwane City, Maritzburg United and Mpumalanga Black Aces get themselves sorted out like Celtic the quicker our matches will be played in front of packed houses.
And I have no doubt that Celtic will readily and willingly share ideas with the other clubs as to how they have managed to get such a loyal and passionate following.
In any case, a team such as Aces – for example – has historically had a good following. And while they are under new ownership surely they can find ways to get Mpumalanga supporting them.
Many will argue that the South African soccer fan either supports Chiefs or Orlando Pirates. And that is usually true. But surely if you are a regional side, you can get your people to make you their second side and entice them to coming to your home matches.
And please teach them to sing ala Celtic fans instead of blowing the noisy and irritating vuvuzela that the Amakhosi faithful did blow on Sunday to spoil the beautiful melodies made by their opposition.
As pleasant a match as Sunday’s was, the loud music played by the DJ was unwelcome and one hopes that the league finds better ways of entertaining the crowd pre-match than with it.
The Star
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