The ugly scenes we saw after the final whistle at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Saturday afternoon, when Kaizer Chiefs lost 1-0 to SuperSport United, have no place in our football and should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. A section of Amakhosi supporters made it their mission to express their displeasure at the club's 11th loss of the season, which marks a record number of defeats per campaign for the Naturena-based club in the PSL era, through violence as they hurled missiles at head coach Arthur Zwane.
It is an open secret that Amakhosi have not covered themselves in glory this campaign as their trophy drought continues for the eighth season and counting. They've had very little to celebrate this season, barring the two consecutive Soweto Derby wins against arch-rivals Orlando Pirates and a few wins here and there. In all honesty, even coach Zwane will know that there's a massive room for improvement if his team is to challenge for any silverware in the near future. However, none of the team's struggles will ever justify a group of hooligans masquerading as football supporters putting the coach's life at risk. A coach of the team they supposedly support, love and have sworn allegiance to. There is no place for hooliganism in the Beautiful Game, Makhosi! There are so many ways to make your feelings known, but violence is never an option, so you better nip this unbecoming behaviour in the bud before it gets completely out of hand. This is coach Zwane's maiden season as a head coach, teething problems were to be expected. Remember, he was only in charge of the team on an interim basis after both coach Gavin Hunt and Stuart Baxter vacated the hot seat. This was his first full season in charge of a team that has been devoid of winning trophies for seasons now and to expect him to perform miracles is impossible and unreasonable.
The treatment the Chiefs legend received on Saturday was akin to what happened to another Son of the Soil, Steve Komphela, who resigned immediately after violent conduct by the team's supporters who attacked all and sundry in protest of the team's 2-0 Nedbank Cup semi-final loss to now-defunct Free State Stars, five years ago! No coach should have missiles pelted at him and have to be escorted off the field, no matter the results! That's not what football is all about and this is certainly not why it is called the Beautiful Game. For a team with a slogan: Love and Peace, the last thing you expect to be associated with them is violence. That was very low and uncalled for from the section of the team's supporters. These people need to be brought to book because it is one thing to be disappointed by the team's bad results but it is another thing to encourage hooliganism. We just can't tolerate or accept that kind of behaviour at our stadiums. There's just no place for hooliganism in football and it needs to be condemned in the harshest possible way.
Yes, things have not gone Chiefs' way and, once again, notwithstanding the coach's public statements to the contrary, coach Zwane can't be happy with how he progressed at first attempt. However, expecting his team to challenge for honours would be unrealistic and completely blind loyalty. The players must be equally disappointed with the season they've had and none of them went into the field with an intention to lose games. If you understand the role of a supporter, then you will know why Chiefs need you now more than ever. You will understand why you are called the 12th man because, when the chips are down, you are the one expected to lift the players' and the technical team's spirits. Everyone looks up to you for inspiration and support, the last thing they expect is for you to kick them when they are down. It was despicable to witness people who call themselves supporters behaving even worse than animals, at a stadium, nogal! That group of hooligans needs to be brought to book and dealt with, harshly, because their actions won't help them, the players, the coaches or even the club.
It doesn't help Chiefs' brand and it sure doesn't help South African football. So, no one stands to benefit from it at all, then why bother behaving like that when no one is going to get any fulfilment from it? Do you see how stupid it is to behave like that? This kind of behaviour, once again, has no place in our game. There is a reason each football club has a branch and if those hooligans belong to any of Chiefs' branches, they should be identified and dealt with. The club needs to take strong action against them through their branches and even ban them if necessary. If you are not happy with your team's performance, the most effective way to protest is by staying at home and hitting your team in the pocket from the gate-takings. That's what fair-weather supporters should do when they can't handle disappointment and only want to support a winning team. If you can't accept football results – win, draw or loss – then stay at home and watch on TV, where you can channel-hop until you find the happiness you're looking for. A true supporter will know that teams go through phases and it is through a rough patch that they need their supporters the most rather than when it is all hunky-dory.
If you expect your team to win every day, think of the four seasons in a year and find out why they are all equally important. This is not to protect coach Zwane from scrutiny – after all, he needs no one to hold a brief for him. He is matured enough to stand on his two feet without any help. However, what we saw on Saturday is just unacceptable and has no place in our football. We just can't have people behaving like that at the stadium, especially if we are to improve our football and encourage people to attend games rather than watching on television. Whenever this ugly behaviour raises its ugly head, we must condemn and discourage it immediately. By so doing, we will be holding one another accountable so that we don't perpetuate this behaviour because it is not normal at all. No team or coach should go through what coach Zwane or Komphela went through and to hear that Mangethe suffered a facial injury makes it even worse. He's not a footballer, therefore no physical injuries are expected from him executing his responsibilities at Chiefs. No family member braces themselves for a day when coach Zwane comes home from a match injured, because he's put those days behind him when he hung up his boots.
The last thing he or anyone expected was to see him being injured by the game he loves so much. If you are not happy with Chiefs or Zwane, vote with your feet and stay home until things are back to normal, whatever your normal is. Until then, don't even think of disrupting people from watching their game at the stadium just because you can't accept a loss. You're putting a stain on the team's flag and the country's football at large. What happens at club level is a reflection of our country, by extension, and that's exactly why we need to discourage these barbaric actions from the football supporters. At the end of the day, we all have a role to play in supporting our teams and no one should leave the stadium harmed from the Beautiful Game. Whoever took part in that barbarous act, and left coach Zwane injured, shame on you! You have a right to demand perfection from your team, but there are so many ways to do so and violence is certainly not one of them. The last place we expect to experience violence from is the football stadium.
Cheers,
Veejay
