The sad part about last week’s violent scenes at Loftus Versfeld, beyond the injuries and tarnishing the image of our football, is that it worked.
Orlando Pirates chairman Irvin Khoza promised to appoint a coach on Monday after holding an urgent press conference to condemn the behaviour of the club’s fans.
At the root of Pirates fans' dissatisfaction is the allegation that management don't listen to their grievances, with their biggest bone of contention being that they are without a permanent coach as the club’s going through a difficult time.
It took those ugly scenes for Khoza to open up about how the club’s process of searching for a new coach had been like. He revealed that they were put off by a “prohibitive” buyout clause they discovered at the very last minute of their negotiations with their preferred candidate they planned to appoint last month.
Orlando Pirates invade the pitch at Loftus Versfeld. Photo: Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix
That forced the club to go with plan B as to who takes over from Augusto Palacios, who had been in charge in an interim capacity since November.
Last week’s action highlighted a sad reality in our society - that people must use violence before they are given a sympathetic ear. It happens almost daily in protests around the country. The only timeleaders show up is when protests turn violent.
For a long time, Mamelodi Sundowns fans acted like their HR department. They fired coaches at will. They would try to assault the coach after a string of poor results. He would need a police escort before the coach would leave the club citing that he feared for his life.
Johan Neeskens, Hristo Stoichkov, Antonio Habas Lopez and Henri Michel all left after the club’s fans attacked them. Those fans tried to force Pitso Mosimane out but Sundowns president Patrice Motsepe stood his ground and supported the former Bafana Bafana coach. Mosimane repaid that faith by helping the Brazilians win the league in record style last season before going on to guide Sundowns to continental success.
It’s sad that in an age when communication has been made simpler, we still struggle to do it properly with the biggest stakeholders of the game - the fans.
This is not to condone what happened at Loftus last Saturday. That act of hooliganism doesn’t have a place in football.
The perpetrators should be identified, arrested and given life bans from stadiums. A strong message must be made so that we don’t see a repeat of those scenes.
The Premier Soccer League’s disciplinary hearing should dish out harsh punishment. More importantly, it should lead to an improved selection and training of security guards deployed at stadiums.
It should also be a lesson to our clubs not toforget their fans.
There are many factors that contributed to the dwindling numbers of fans at our stadiums.
Instead of going out to ask them why they don’t go to the stadium, we use market researchers to articulate the problem. When we try to get their views, we don’t use the right platforms.
We use the internet and social media even though there is a large portion of football fans who don’t have excess to those mediums. Their voice matters too.
I read an interesting story about a tradition every Bayern Munich player is obliged to do. Every year the club send a player to spend a day with their local fan club, De Rodn Waginga. Those visits are popular and a reminder of the club’s background even though they are a global giant.
This is more than just a PR stunt but a way to keep in touch with the heartbeat of the club. That gesture and being part of the club who have retired jersey No12 in honour of the 12th man, the supporters, keep them at the heart of the people who back them.
A greater skill than talking is listening because it requires you to put someone before you. We need to improve on that if we are to lift our game. This goes beyond club owners and players as well as every stakeholder in football including the media.
Clubs need to have more conversations with their fans because that would result in fewer confrontations.
It should be done on a regular basis not only when there are problems.
That would benefit everyone as the fans would get a chance to air their grievances and the clubs would know how their important stakeholders feel.