The SA Football Players Union (Safpu) has thrown its weight behind a planned protest by fans to put pressure on the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to allow fans back into stadiums.
The “peaceful protest”, organised by the National Football Supporters’ Association (Nafsa), is scheduled to take place at Orlando Stadium where Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs are due to meet in a DStv Premiership fixture on Saturday at 3.30pm.
The protest will start at 11am.
A crowd-puller spectacle, the Soweto derby will be played behind closed doors as local football supporters yearn to return to stadiums for the first time since March 2020 when the country went under lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As Safpu we would like to publicly pledge our support for the ‘peaceful protest’ as hosted by Nafsa to be held on Saturday, March 5,” said the union in a statement.
“The march holds much significance as two of the countries most loved teams lock horns in the Soweto Derby, a match that never sees a seat empty and over the past two years sadly, football fans have been robbed of this joy and post lockdown it still continues with no validation or satisfactory scientific report backing this worrying act.
“Furthermore, we would like to bring the attention to the many livelihoods lost due to the coronavirus and if we prolong the lack of the 12th fan in the stands, it will take forever to revive the game and uplift the football economy to the level of excitement and vibrancy that is synonymous with SA football flavour.”
Nafsa acting CEO Siyabulela Loliyane said they are also expecting legends of the game to be part of the 2,000 protesting football fans.
Loliyane said Nafsa tried to avoid the protest by engaging with all relevant stakeholders, but unfortunately the issue hasn’t been solved.
What hurt Nafsa the most is that rugby and cricket fans have been back in stadiums for a while now.
“That’s the sad thing about it now, it’s as if Covid-19 only comes with football people because you can’t explain why fans from other codes can go and watch matches from the stadiums,” said Loliyane.
“But again, with other codes it has been their federations who pushed and led the talks for a return of fans. In our case, the federations are very quiet when it comes to this matter.”
Safpu joins soccer fans' protest before Soweto derby at Orlando Stadium
Image: Mosibodi Whitehead/Kaya FM/Twitter
The SA Football Players Union (Safpu) has thrown its weight behind a planned protest by fans to put pressure on the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to allow fans back into stadiums.
The “peaceful protest”, organised by the National Football Supporters’ Association (Nafsa), is scheduled to take place at Orlando Stadium where Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs are due to meet in a DStv Premiership fixture on Saturday at 3.30pm.
The protest will start at 11am.
A crowd-puller spectacle, the Soweto derby will be played behind closed doors as local football supporters yearn to return to stadiums for the first time since March 2020 when the country went under lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“As Safpu we would like to publicly pledge our support for the ‘peaceful protest’ as hosted by Nafsa to be held on Saturday, March 5,” said the union in a statement.
“The march holds much significance as two of the countries most loved teams lock horns in the Soweto Derby, a match that never sees a seat empty and over the past two years sadly, football fans have been robbed of this joy and post lockdown it still continues with no validation or satisfactory scientific report backing this worrying act.
“Furthermore, we would like to bring the attention to the many livelihoods lost due to the coronavirus and if we prolong the lack of the 12th fan in the stands, it will take forever to revive the game and uplift the football economy to the level of excitement and vibrancy that is synonymous with SA football flavour.”
Nafsa acting CEO Siyabulela Loliyane said they are also expecting legends of the game to be part of the 2,000 protesting football fans.
Loliyane said Nafsa tried to avoid the protest by engaging with all relevant stakeholders, but unfortunately the issue hasn’t been solved.
What hurt Nafsa the most is that rugby and cricket fans have been back in stadiums for a while now.
“That’s the sad thing about it now, it’s as if Covid-19 only comes with football people because you can’t explain why fans from other codes can go and watch matches from the stadiums,” said Loliyane.
“But again, with other codes it has been their federations who pushed and led the talks for a return of fans. In our case, the federations are very quiet when it comes to this matter.”
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