But realy who are these people that have bought tickets?? Wits does not have even 500 loyal supporters. Amazulu hardly have 10 000 supporters in the whole of South Africa. Mind you this 10 000 estimate includes realy old timers from KZN who support Amazulu because of the club name having some reference to the Zulu nation. But the loyal staduim going supporters of Amazulu does not even come to 5 000.
So who has bought the tickets?? Is it general South Africans who love the beautifull game? But where have the general South Africans who love the game been all this time? Never before has teams like Amazulu and Wits attracted such crowds. When it comes to football South Africans only think of Chiefs and Pirates. If you support any other team they think there is something wrong with you.
The studims in South Africa are always empty. More so if its not Chiefs, Pirates and to some extent Sundowns playing. Amazulu themselves cannot sell out a single game in their home staduim. They have even tried to take their games to the football starved part of KZN in the nothern part of the province in Ulundi. Even there in a small staduim they still do not sell out. Wits who seem to start each season by planning how many games they are going to play draws in can't sell out at a tiny Varsity staduim like Milpark. But today these two teams have sold out a whopping 76 000 tickets, 76 000 are you kidding me??
Is it because of the hype in the media about the world cup. Are we as a nation suddenly waking up to the reality that there are other teams in this country other than Chiefs and Pirates? Or are we energised by the fact that we are hosting the world cup in our shores? Are we suddenly feeling the need to support anything that is football related? Is it because people who have never sat foot on a staduim before are suddenly feeling the need to go to games so that they can get an understanding of what makes people travel miles around the world just to watch a 90 min football game?
Are the people buying these tickes actualy going to support Wits or Amazulu? Would it matter whether it was two NFD teams playing in the final? Would the tickets been sold out eaither way no matter who is playing in this final? Is it realy about the game? Or is it about going to the staduim to see the Soccer City for the first time?
Is it this marketing line which has caused these tickets to sell out "Come and see for the first time the spanking new Soccer City Staduim when Amazulu take on Wits in the Nedbank Cup Final"? Will this be the first and the last chance to see this staduim? Will there be no chances in future? Or is it the braging rights you will have till you die to say "I was there when the World Cup Final hosting staduim was unveiled for the first time after being re-done". If this is the reason that has made tickets to be sold out, they one can conclude that ama South Africans angothathekile (we like fashionable things).
The Chinese are very much know to follow anything that is fashionable. They will follow and buy anything that is in fashion at a particular point in time. Their loyalty is zero but they follow anything that is trendy at that particular time. Are we South Africans like that? If it is that than marketers out there need to take note of this and exploit it somehow.
In this country we battle to sell out any league games. As it is beatifull staduims have been built all over the country. However the seats in these staduims will even turn grey over the years because there will be no bums occupying them week in and week out. Perhaps we must build more staduims and unveil then every year so that we can have record crowds in most games.
If you have bought a ticket well done to you. Well done also to the two teams that will experiance something new this weekend when they play for such huge crowds. I hope this will not be the last time you buy a ticket. I will be watching the game on the small screen.
But when the season kicks off I will be supporting my team as I normaly do. Going to their games home and away with no fail in each game. I hope every South African can do the same. We need crowds in our staduims. The vibe is not the same when teams play for empty stands. Lets support football through and through not only when it is fashionable to do so.
By Sifiso
