Football is nothing without Fans

I cannot for the life of me understand the poor attendance or come to terms with this sinking trend all too familiar on Premier Soccer League match-day.

Last Friday the beginning of the 2012/13 season was supposed to herald a new brave era. So much optimism when the Premier Soccer League Chairman Irvin Khoza announced the league will be divided into four quarters with winner of each quarter pocketing 1.5-million.

Speaking at the launch of the new season, Khoza said there was no doubt that the premiership has become a competitive league. Yes that is so true. But there is also no doubt that empty seats at the stadiums leave us chocking with disappointment.

The defending champions, Orlando Pirates kicked off their campaign against Golden Arrows and one will think that the fans will come out in numbers to support their team but as usual the Orlando Stadium was half empty.

Football on Television

Since SuperSport started televising Premier Soccer League, there is so much football on our screens and fans can easily follow their teams instead of going into the stadiums. I can spend less on TV and follow my team while sitting at home with these endless soccer shows on television.

Technological advancements have seen the introduction of DSTV mobile which means at not more than R50 a month I can follow my team at even less price. It is for this reason that, previously out of 380 Premier League matches only 138 are shown in the UK, so that fans fill up the stadiums.

Less concern from the clubs

Gate takings are supposed to be a great source of income and clubs in Europe look forward to profit on match day revenue but this isn’t the case back here at home.

PSL clubs seem to be dragging their feet when it comes to marketing themselves, so that they are able to bring in more fans to the stadium. We only get to see big crowds on big matches that do not require so much effort to sell them to the fans.

In this manner, logic will suggest that clubs are making more money from TV which seems to be outweighing gate takings. We can only speculate that even though the stadiums are empty on match day, clubs are more than happy with the money they generate from selling the television rights because they don’t seem to doing anything about.

On the positive note, TV has certainly changed the local game for the better, with so much money we see teams being able to compete and becoming financial viable which also attracts sponsors on board.

By Terence Mthembu

eMail: terencemthembu@hotmail.co.za

 Twitter: @Terrypedia