Ramatsiyi Moholoa

Ramatsiyi Moholoa

Premiership returnees Maritzburg United have been described as a sleeping giant with potential to compete with South African big guns in terms of support base.

This is according to the club's new public relations officer, Brian Zuma, who has already identified drumming up support for The Team of Choice as one of his immediate challenges.

The articulate Zuma joined United on a part-time basis as he is doing the same job for the City of Pietermaritzburg, who are using The Team of Choice to promote tourism for the 2010 Fifa World Cup in the area.

"My responsibilities at the club include working with the media to promote our brand, meeting with our partners and other stakeholders and recruiting supporters as well as establishing branches," he said.

"People are passionate about soccer and we have decided to embark on a recruitment campaign to ensure that we have a solid structure that will cater for the needs of the supporters.

"We played our first game against Lamontville Golden Arrows at our new home [Woodburn Stadium] last Wednesday. You saw for yourself that the support we received from the residents was great, especially for a midweek game.

"We don't have a supporters' club, it is only individuals who have grouped themselves to attend our games when we play.

"As from this week, we are starting with the campaign to meet the residents with the view of launching supporters' club branches.

"Our representatives will start with the recruitment campaign this week.

"Maritzburg United are the only professional soccer club in this city [Pietermaritzburg] and we believe that we can learn a lot from [Absa Premiership rivals] Bloemfontein Celtic, who enjoy massive support from residents of Mangaung," Zuma added.