Ronwen On Bafana: We Need To Dig Deep Like The Springboks

Ronwen Williams weighed in on how Bafana Bafana can attract more supporters at stadiums. 

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National men's senior team captain Ronwen Williams has been on quite the award-winning and record-breaking streak this year, with his latest achievement being a Yachine Trophy nomination for the Ballon d'Or awards.

Williams, who is currently missing in action for Mamelodi Sundowns and Bafana Bafana due to an injury, added his voice to Bafana games fan attendance debate.

The Bafana captain sat down with Robert Marawa on his radio show, Marawa Sports World, to speak about national team's draw with Uganda, including Veli Mothwa's error and Thalente Mbatha's late equaliser.

The 32-year-old also spoke about how Siya Kolisi and the Springboks are an inspiration to him, with Marawa asking what it will take for Bafana to fill up stadiums like the back-to-back Rugby World Cup champions.

"Yes it hurts, it's not nice [to not get as much support as the Springboks], we've been crying for the longest time to get the crowd and South Africa behind us," noted Ronwen, adding, "But I've always said that we need the results to get the country behind us, to believe in us again."

Along with pointing out that positive results will get bums on seats at Bafana matches, the Masandawana shot-stopped also pointed out that it's possible for Bafana to change the perception of supporters like the Springboks had to before Rassie Erasmus took over.

"A few years ago, the Springboks were in the same situation as us, now, everyone loves them. They had to go and win and dig deep. And show what it means to represent South Africa. I think we've done that.

"Over the last two years, we've been amazing. We've done amazing things as Bafana Bafana. What we saw in Bloemfontein in June [against Zimbabwe], it's testament to what we have done," stated Williams.

The inspiring Bafana skipper was let down slightly by the attendance at Orlando Stadium for the AFCON qualifiers against South Sudan, which attracted nearly 20 000 fans.

"Yes it was a bit disappointing to see [the crowd] last week at Orlando Stadium, but we shouldn't stop now, we should continue fighting. And eventually, they will get behind us because you can see, there's more talk about Bafana Bafana. A year ago, Orlando Stadium had a 1000 [supporters] at a qualifier.

"Coach Hugo would ask me, 'Ronwen, what is the problem?' and I would say, 'coach, I can't explain, I really don't know,'" The skipper admitted that he's approached Bafana's media and marketing teams to see what can be done to improve the team's visibility.

"I've spoken to the media and marketing team, saying 'maybe we need to do more, go to more schools and malls like we used to back in the day.' We started last year, going to a school in Soweto, but we can't do it once off, we need to be touring. You see the Springboks doing it, I even saw New Zealand doing it," added Williams.

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