Times Of Swaziland: ‘FAN-TASTIC’ RETURN OF SOCCER LOVERS! ‘FAN-TASTIC’ RETURN OF SOCCER LOVERS! ================================================================================ BY LWAZI DLAMINI on 01/11/2021 08:17:00 Fans and football are intertwined like tongue and saliva. Since March 8, 2020, our soccer venues have been as deserted as cemeteries. Thanks to one of the greatest tragedies to be visited upon mankind - the COVID-19 pandemic. The last venue to be filled to the rafters by the ‘emotional owners’ of the clubs – as the all-too-powerful Dr. Irvin ‘Iron Duke’ Khoza prefers to call them – was our soccer Mecca, Somhlolo National Stadium. The event was the Ingwenyama Cup final on Sunday, March 8, 2020. Green Mamba strung Mbabane Highlanders effortlessly as if they were Toni Braxton’s ‘Spanish Guitar’ in a 2-0 defeat through goals by the Mkhontfo brothers - Mxolisi and Khetho. Rows and rows of empty seats is what has greeted our sight every time we cascaded to the venues to cover the MTN league games which were also played at a frantic pace of three games in eight days. The MTN leagues also remained the only tournament to be played. EswatiniBank Cup was halted in its quarter-final stage; the season opener, EswatiniTelecom Charity Cup became a distant memory with Mbabane Highlanders being the last winners on August 8, 2019. Our football lives have been turned upside down – literally and figuratively speaking. But on Thursday, there was a glimmer of hope when government, through the Prime Minister (PM) Cleopas Dlamini, announced that at least 2 000 vaccinated fans could watch a local game at Mavuso Sports Centre and Somhlolo National Stadium. Five hundred fans can watch soccer games at open grounds and moreover, all sporting codes have returned to action under strict COVID-19 regulations. The news has been met with palpable joy by everyone associated with the game but as already said by the PM, this is not a licence to engage in reckless behaviour because the ‘the enemy is still lurking in our midst and ready to strike with venom’. These are five reasons why the return of soccer fans, no matter how limited the number is, means more to the livelihood of the game than we can all imagine. FANS BRING THE X-FACTOR INTO THE GAME Without soccer fans, football is soulless. It is like Bob Marley without the Wailers; Brenda Fassie without the Big Dudes; Gladys Knight without the Pips or; food without salt. Soccer fans bring the X-Factor, they bring the vibe and excitement to the game far more than we can imagine. They get the players pumped up with their blaring Vuvuzelas (though the ear-piercing instrument does sound like an Elephant in distress) and cacophony of songs which help create a carnival atmosphere in our soccer stadiums. We have sorely missed the soccer fans. Again, this will go a long way in incentivising the vaccinated fans as we have been advocating. Take a jab and get into the stadium to watch your favourite team. The soccer fans are not called the 12th player for nothing! REVENUE FOR THE TEAMS/PLE It has been increasingly difficult to fathom how the soccer bosses have been managing to keep their ships afloat without any form of income in the past year and a half. The return of fans, even if the numbers are limited, is a welcome respite for the long-suffering club bosses who are spending a fortune on a project that does not make any business sense right now. The return of soccer fans means no matter how little the revenue is, both the teams and the PLE can at least have some form of income even if it is a fistful of coins. PLE TO LEVERAGE ON SPONSORSHIPS The role played by soccer fans goes beyond just blowing their Vuvuzelas in support of their favourite teams, but. in the air-conditioned boardroom when the silk-suited souls engage in sponsorship negotiations, they are an important stakeholder. The Captains of the industry regard the masses as a key point in marketing their products, so the numbers matter. There is no doubt, the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) without the fans was negotiating from a compromised position and it is not surprising we have nothing with regard to the other knockout tournaments which heavily rely on visibility. Believe it or not, soccer fans are the lifeblood of sponsorships. LIVE-STREAMING ‘BATTLE’ TO BE A MOOT POINT One of the sore points in the protracted negotiations for a new sponsorship package between the PLE and the league sponsors, MTN Eswatini, is the big elephant in the room – the Live-streaming of games project. My yellow flies on the MTN Eswatini headquarters wall tell me the two bodies do not seem to agree on how this can be handled to the satisfaction of either party. The whole concept last season was a spectacular flop - with productions costs higher than the revenue. No doubt, the return of soccer fans means perhaps the whole idea can remain what it is, at best, a moot point or at worst, thrown into the dustbin of history. PRE-SALE TICKETS TO BE NORMALISED AGAIN The previous Peter ‘Touch’ Magagula-led PLE introduced the ticketing system and we all know what happened. Maybe this is not even the right time or the place to open festering wounds. With the return of the soccer fans, the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs has suggested the pre-sale tickets format which makes sense given that only vaccinated fans will be allowed to watch the games and the numbers should not exceed the 2 000 or 500 for open venues. This is an opportunity for the Mark Carmichael-led PLE to normalise the ticketing system going forward as it happens with other leagues around the world. The ticketing system is a perfect way to ensure adherence to strict COVID-19 pandemic regulations and measures as set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and government. Thanks to the return of soccer fans, this can now be put to good use.