Siwelele Heartbreak
Two years ago I was at a salon with my partner, you know those moments that happen for most men, waiting for hours for your lady to make herself more beautiful. I managed to negotiate my release and she allowed me to go sit outside. Not that it didn’t matter to me, otherwise I wouldn’t have been there. This was a beautiful Bloemfontein summer day with nice cool breeze, then I saw a gentleman, you know that moment when you see someone and it feels like you’ve metthem before. I was in that trance until I rememberedwhere I knew him from, this was the legendary David Modise. A legend and a fan favourite. This man’s blood is green, and is one of the best talents that came out of the Free State province. Our ex-players matters. That’s just the way it’s always been for us fans.
Ever since I can remember. You get older, your life changes, your friends change, family members start dying, you have kids and change jobs… and yet, one thing never changes for anyone who truly cares about sports. There’s no feeling quite like watching your team play every weekend afternoon. Going throughdevastating moments after losing or experiencingparalyzing excitement when they win. It’s the only feeling that a young person, a middle age and an older person can share exactly. You never get over it. You never stop thinking about the best games from your team. It becomes something of a tattoo. You live with it forever, and then you die. We all want to win, a win changes how we look at life, it changes how our week turn out.
But Siwelele supporters taught us a lot about being fans, they taught us that you don’t only root for the team when they are winning only. Supporting their team was more than entertainment, it’s a song, it’s a dance, a celebration of some sort. The singing and dancing of the Bloemfontein Celtic fans were better than those of the Iceland team that the world experienced in 2018, they thought they were amazing but in South Africa we knew better.
Bloemfontein Celtic with their vibrant supporters are part of a very rich South African soccer culture. Dr PetrusMolemela stadium or wherever this team played, there’s always an electrifying, noisy and exciting and glamorous atmosphere with unique customized outfits and charismatic beauty, their most popular fan is Bothawho was seen in every match around the country from a Friday match to Sunday afternoon game. During the week we are all individuals attending to our different lives, with our different jobs but when the weekend arrives, when Botha gets in his Bloemfontein Celtic fan outfit, we know it’s the weekend. As thousands, if not millions, of us collide in the same place our different stories collide as well and with the assistance of the Bloemfontein diehard fans, we create something larger, our culture, the nature of our passion collide as well.
Remember the time Dr Molemela ran this team, the time we saw Paul Dolezar in Bloemfontein and what he achieve in a short time he was here. Siyabonga Nkosi, Stoffel Nikane, Willem Vries, Hendrick Gulwa, Willem Jackson, Simon Gopane, Vasili Sofiadellis this team from the wilderness, the “dead centre” of South Africa has played part in the growth of our league, they went down and came up, continued to entertain and produce talent for the big teams.
“You just get humbled by Siwelele‚ the supporters. It’s for the third time that I’m coming here and whether win or lose‚ after the game‚ the supporters call me and sing for me. It makes me emotional and humbling. I don’t think you get this anywhere in the world. It’s a great experience and these are some of the things for me that are more important than winning the match. To find this is special‚ it’s very rare. If I had money‚ I’d buy this team‚ it’s unbelievable‚” Pitso Mosimane
In another world, a fair world, the Premier Soccer League and the Mkhizes would know and understand what is mostly important, the history of the club, the supporters, and the journey that these fans took with this team to be where it is right now. Understandable so, owners have different motivations. To buy a team like Bloemfontein Celtic, one need to understand fully what this team mean to who, you would think the PSL, with the experienced office running the league, would know better what it means to have a team like Masokolara in the league. If it matters to the fans, it should matter to the league. The client matters therefore the fan matters the most. This team may have not won the Premier League or one of the tournaments on the past few seasons but it’s not for lack of honest effort, their performance every weekend afternoon mattered to the community and the players and it should have mattered to the league in a long run.
The Premier Soccer League need to understand that the supporters own the club and as the owner, you are just the custodian. Let’s understand that I have no problem with the fact that Bloem Celtic was bought, the problem comes with the moving of the team from Bloemfontein to KZN and the changing of the names. The history that we are losing. Imagine Man City, Man United, Arsenal, Leicester and others that were bought were to move from their cities, can you image “London United” or “Manchester Arsenal” or something entirely different, leaving the diehard fans without a team. We have seen it happen in the NFL, but it does not mean it’s working, or it’s a good thing. The word “fan” comes from — fanatics. The idea is that you care deeply enough to be somewhat beyond reason. It’s not supposed to make sense that a team can play poorly and change the entire course of a fan’s day as a result, but that’s the reality.For now, as Celtic fan, there is nothing to be happy about or look forward to. These fans bled green and songs they sang were about their beloved team, they are suffering a collective meltdown.
We need to remember that the PSL don’t make money out of stadiums being filled up like in other leagues, the TV rights and other sponsors keeps the league financially powerful. This makes the fan less important, this is why the league survived Covid-19 effects. Empty stadiums are a norm in South Africa, Bloemfontein Celtis are one of the few teams that were managing to bring in fans in the stadium, home and away. This team fans deserved so much more than what they received from the PSL. They deserved respect and acknowledgement from the new owners. This team deserved to remain in central South Africa, this sale would still have took place but change of name and relocation was not supposed to be allowed. This indeed is a heart-break.
“Hela yalo Masokolara”
Words by Fani Ntele.