2010/11 PSL Opener: Not a Happy return in Cape Town Stadium

It was one of those exciting days as Friday finally arrived in Cape Town – the first two games of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) were going to be played here. At 5pm we rushed to the stadium and the highway was jam packed with cars going to the stadium. You could hear vuvuzelas being blown as the traffic jam moved slowly to the stadium.

As we entered the stadium we got greeted with smiles from the ladies who were giving away booklets of the host teams: How Vasco Da Gama made history, all the line-ups of the teams (Vasco Da Gama, Orlando Pirates, Ajax Cape Town and Bloemfontein Celtic) and other extra content about the host teams. This was like the feeling of the World Cup… feeling Philip.

When entering our section the game was already underway! You could see the beautiful field as Dane Klate made a run attacking the Vasco defenders with vuvuzelas adding more fire. We were directed to our seats by the security without any problems.

However, as you know your seat will forever be occupied by someone especially when you’re late. The struggle started here when we had to remove a couple of white people who actually didn’t want to move, pointing us to sit in the other row. We refused and ordered them to move and as we were about to sit Mzion and other Pirates supporters arrived. Pirates’ number one relaxed in his seat and watched the first five minutes with order. But a couple of Pirates supporters saw where their legend was and decided to come to where we were sitting. This irritated a lot of people as the Pirates supporters were standing, singing and blocking the view of other supporters.

Security was called into action and the security informed the police officers about complaints from other supporters. At this time I was one of them singing because; ‘I couldn’t beat them so I just joined them’. This was not a case of blocking the view of other supporters, but a case of Pirates supporters occupying the wrong section of seats. The police officers came in peacefully and ordered everyone to show their tickets, and Mzion and some of the Pirates supporters were told to go to where their seats were as allocated on their tickets.

This was not the only drama on our side as people from different sections in the stadium were removed by the police officers. The biggest of them all was when the SWAT (not ordinary police officers) removed the Celtic supporters from the goal pole section. Celtic’s so-called number one fan (Botha) was seen arguing with the police officers and suddenly he was arrested. The entire Celtic group decided (or maybe should I say was forced) to move to the upper tier of the stadium.

I didn’t see the action on the field in the first half because of this pandemonium. I decided to get some beers for my friends during the game just to ease up what I’d just seen. And to my surprise after a long queue one was stunned by the sign that was saying one person must buy two beers. I mean really WHAT was this manje? I was buying for four people and from what I saw the people who were selling the beers were also arrogant and didn’t want to listen.

I flashed back and thought about the World Cup and the treatment we got from there – it was marvelous. One can say foreign supporters were treated much better than the local supporters. I mean really I’ve never seen what I saw in the stadium and I have to blame the organizers. Yes they knew that black supporters will outnumber the other races and they came up with this ridiculous idea of selling two beers to one person. You don’t get this mumbo jumbo in cricket and rugby games where one is not limited to buy beers.

When one thought you’d seen it all in this cold Friday night then another bombshell! After the Vasco Vs Pirates game the beer was finished yet again after queuing for like 30 minutes. One was wondering what was going here. The less said about the toilet chaos the better. The food was also expensive (not the same price as the World Cup) to say the least and one was wondering what would be next.



I don’t like to complain about these kind of things especially when going to a soccer game. This was supposed to be a fun night for the supporters to enjoy the beautiful game and welcome the new 2010/11 season with a smile, but that wasn’t the case. I didn’t like some of the things that were done this night and maybe regretted not spending that time with my girlfriend watching a movie and drinking her bottle of wine. However, it’s hard not to go to a soccer game especially when your blood craves soccer day and night.

Overall the soccer was ok especially the Vasco Vs Pirates game, in which I didn’t see the first two goals. But the game was on a high note and I think it was because of Vasco’s hunger to win their first game in the PSL against Pirates who upped their game after getting stunned by Sibusiso Zuma’s goal. The Ajax Vs Celtic game started well in the first 10 minutes then the game just died and forced people to start speaking about unrelated issues in front of and behind us. The last 20 minutes of the game was alive after Celtic introduced Moses Spandeel and Bennett Chenene. Celtic started to attack and showing desire to get a goal, but it was not to be as the night belonged to Ajax.

I have to say this was one Premier Soccer League opener one will remember for a very long time!

By Proffesor Khumalo

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Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates meet for a real Wafa Wafa (do or die) semi-final

The 2010/11 Absa premiership campaign has started on a high note for Orlando pirates and Kaizer chiefs fans. Chiefs and Pirates supporters, as well as some neutrals could not have asked for a better local football treat than an MTN 8 semi-final featuring the two Soweto giants, the fact that it will be played over two legs makes it even more exciting.

The two teams have started this season on a high, playing some good attacking football, which is what we want to see. It's clear that they will be much more competitive and they will definitely make a strong impact this season.

For the semi-final, I believe that the team that wants this cup the most will win the game, and that is Orlando Pirates. Unlike Kaizer chiefs who managed to win some silverware last season when they won the Telkom knockout cup, the buccaneers have endured a long drought of cup glory. At the moment they look like a team that can turn things around and actually win some silverware.

Pirates are strong in all departments and their approach on the field is full of purpose and determination, they are hungry for success. Their 1 - 0 loss to Chiefs in the Telkom charity cup will be another motivating factor for them, surely Pirates will want to lose to Chiefs two times in a row.

Having said that, there is something about Chiefs though, once the Glamour boys smell cup glory, it is hard to stop them from going all the way and claim the first prize.

This should be one of the most exciting Soweto derbies we've seen in years. It will be a real wafa wafa ( do or die) type of a game.

By Siphiwe Hlongwane

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Premier League Dressing Room

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Antonio Lopez Habas might just be the right man to steer Mamelodi Sundowns to glory

After so much chopping and changing in the Sundowns coaching department, without any success, the Brazilians fortunes might just change for the better under Antonio Lopez Habas.

Big name coaches like Henri Michel have come and gone without bringing the desired results, Histro Stoichkov came close but the team crambled under pressure at a crucial moment. As much as the Bulgarian tried, Sundowns were not really a happy family despite playing some exciting football, his antics didn't win him many friends.

Antonio is a different coach from Stoichkov and he has many positive advantages. Firstly he was with the team last season so he knows exactly what to expect this time around. He knows the players he is working with, their strenghts and weaknesses, so it won't take him long to discover the right combinations. He is also well aware of what he will be up against when it comes to opposition teams.

But his biggest and most important advantage is the fact that he has the support of his players. It is a well known fact that if a coach doesn't have the players blessings he is bound to fail, for Habas it seems as if all is well, the players will perform for him.

For a change Sundowns have kept the backbone of the team they had last season and made some clever signings especially in Richard Henyekane and Sbusiso Khumalo. There will be more stability at the Brazilians and the consistency will be a major advantage.

If Habas can be able to deal with the pressure of the Sundowns hot seat, and the sometimes unrealistic expectations that come with the job, he might just achieve his mandate of wrestling the league title away from neighbours Supersport United.

Happy days could be back at Chloorkop.

By Siphiwe Hlongwane

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FC BARCELONA CHAMPIONS OF THE MUPC 2010 WORLD FINALS

MANCHESTER - FC BARCELONA were crowned Manchester United Premier Cup Champions of the World for the third time at Old Trafford today following an impressive 3-1 win over Mexico’s Pachuca FC on Saturday, 7 August 2010.

Barcelona took control early in the match, scoring their first goal after ten minutes - their second shortly before half time and their third mid-way through the second half. ”When their second goal went in it was always going to be difficult to find a way back,” said Pachuca Coach Miguel Angel Gomez Leyv, “but I am so impressed by my boys. They performed well and adapted immediately to the developing situation on the field of play here at Old Trafford and continued to press Barcelona. When we scored it gave us new incentive, but at 3-1 down, it was unfortunately too late.”

Jubilant Barcelona Coach Victor Sanchez was happy to be repeating his 2007 MUPC experience with his team: “I am incredibly happy firstly that our boys played our normal fast-paced game keeping control of the ball and, secondly, that we are MUPC World Champions again. This title is for the whole team who made it possible. They really deserve it. Throughout every stage of the competition our plan was to play our own game as usual – and enjoy the experience. The boys have done everything we asked of them and represented their club with pride. My next goal is to help them develop their incredible potential and reach the FC Barcelona first team!”

Rio Ferdinand and Sir Bobby Charlton presided over the on-pitch presentations and Ferdinand added: “I played in many youth tournaments as a lad and I can honestly say, whatever age you are – the feeling is exactly the same. You work hard and reach the final in an important competition and, when you win, it is the best feeling in the world. Nothing can touch it!

“But both teams are so lucky to have this amazing opportunity to walk out through the tunnel onto the pitch and play at Old Trafford at such a young age. Win or lose, it really is the stuff dreams are made of!”

Sir Bobby Charlton continued to share the teams’ celebrations over at Manchester University’s Armitage Campus and enthused: “I’ve really enjoyed watching this competition over the years - and am always impressed that it is something special and something we get very right. I’d like to thank Nike for the opportunity to partner them in hosting this competition around the world.”

He continued to congratulate all twenty teams for a “magnificently high standard of football played in the spirit of “fair play”, particularly the talented young runners-up from Pachuca and the youngsters from FC Barcelona who “upheld the style and traditions of a famous club with honour.”

Paris Saint-Germain and Torino FC progressed through the tournament without receiving a single yellow card and shared the “Fair Play” award. The award for Top Scorer was also shared - by Newcastle United’s Campbell & Torres from Pachuca FC - with six goals apiece. The final award, for Tournament MVP as voted by the Coaches of the opposition sides was, once again, Campbell from Newcastle United.

Although Orlando Pirates representing South Africa were knocked out of the MUPC World Finals in the early stages, the team remained in positive spirits from gaining experience and insights from their competitors, and more importantly from the professional footballers during their coaching sessions.

Coach of Orlando Pirates, Professor Augusto Palacios was full of praise for his team, and the tournament. “The team has played well especially when you consider the level of play from the international teams. We wanted a better result in all our matches as the opportunities were there – we would need to work harder on our finishing.”

“Overall, this tournament is a huge success story for the development of the game. Since the first day group matches, the quality of play is remarkable. It has also been very inspiring to have the Manchester United first team squad training next to where the matches are being played. There are also so many youngsters from around the world who have been identified at this very tournament to represent some of the best clubs is testimony to the tournaments success. Iniesta is just one example of a great player.”

“When you consider the experience that the young Pirates players are gaining from playing against the best teams in world, and also being a part of the coaching clinics, this is exposing them at an early age to international levels of football. There are a couple of players who certainly have the opportunity to make it to professional levels. I’ve always regarded the MUPC tournament as one of the most important development programmes in the world, and I’m glad that we have the opportunity to experience it.”

Pirates finished in 13th place overall. The team returns to South Africa on Monday 9 August.

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An Englishman’s view of the World Cup

With the World Cup now gone and the post-tournament depression slowly fading away, I look back on it with mixed emotions. I have been a soccer fan for a couple of decades now and a passionate supporter of my local semi-professional team Tiverton Town from my hometown in the southwest of England but I am also a researcher at the University of Edinburgh looking at soccer supporters in Johannesburg.

As a soccer supporter, the World Cup in South Africa was an incredible experience. I went to seven games in total, my highlight being the Uruguay v Ghana quarter-final at Soccer City. The atmosphere in that magnificent stadium was electric! The hospitality shown by many to me will not be forgotten.

I will leave South Africa with many stories but also a sense of satisfaction that South Africa showed the world that it could host an amazing event; European journalists had to eat a large slice of humble pie. Moving back to the UK from Johannesburg last August, I was annoyed to see a large number of newspaper articles stirring up fear in their readers. South Africa was dangerous and crime-ridden. If English tourists going over there weren’t mugged, they would most likely be raped, killed or find themselves in the middle of a race war. What these tourists experienced was unlike what they had been told.

However, as a researcher, the World Cup has also saddened me. Much has said about how Bafana have united a nation but I’m not so sure. It’s easy to wear a Bafana shirt and wave a flag but does it really mean that South Africans were united? If that was the case, that would even make me South African seeing as I wore my Bafana shirt and went crazy when Siphiwe Tshabalala scored that cracker against Mexico. Now that the flags are being taken down from buildings and off the cars, have things really changed?

The World Cup was a party in which people temporarily forgot their problems, but now the party is over and the problems are remembered once more. South Africans in Sandton and Soweto wore their shirts and waved their flags but have returned to their vastly different lifestyles. The World Cup may have caused people to feel South African but the vast injustices of inequality remain.

Who benefited from the World Cup financially? The World Cup was sold to the country by its government as something that would benefit all South Africans but once FIFA took its share of the profits, the government was left heavily indebted. Can anyone tell me how the stadiums in Polokwane, Nelspruit and Port Elizabeth are going be used seeing as there are no major sports teams there? Many ordinary South Africans believed that the World Cup was a great opportunity to make money but I’ve come across many who spent large amounts of money renovating their homes to accommodate tourists only for the tourists not to show. It was a surprise to many that not all the European tourists came with their pockets stuffed with cash. For many of us, it was difficult enough to get the money to fly out here in the first place. It’s going to take a long time to be able to afford to come back.

South Africa, give yourself a big pat on the back. It was a wonderful World Cup and you have shown the rest of the world that Africa is not just a continent of famine, disease and war but a dynamic, vibrant, welcoming place too. It was a month-long carnival; a celebration of the beautiful game (although the beauty was difficult to find sometimes). Just don’t tell me that the World Cup was for the good of South Africa. I now return to England where the government there will be telling me that the 2012 London Olympics will benefit me. I doubt it will though. I don’t live anywhere near London...

By Marc Fletcher

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