The public backing of South Africa’s senior national men’s football side has diminished again after their failure to qualify for the 2022 Fifa World Cup.
Two contrasting images recently floated around on social media. One showed South Africa’s senior men’s rugby team, the Springboks, strutting their stuff against Argentina in front of almost 50,000 onlookers. On that same day, their football counterparts Bafana Bafana faced West Africa’s Sierra Leone — in front of a crowd which was comfortably fewer than 500 people.
Meanwhile, at the FNB stadium in Johannesburg Bafana were playing their first match since being thrashed 5-0 by France in another international friendly encounter. They also lost to Morocco in their opening 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier back in June.Even as Bafana Bafana almost defied the odds and reached the final stage of 2022 Fifa World Cup qualification last year, there was sporadic interest in their matches.
Of course, the Springboks have been far from convincing in 2022 — putting on below-par performances in the Championship. For Bafana, players of the calibre of Benni McCarthy and Steven Pienaar have long retired and have not been replaced. This was prior to those two lowly attended victories over fellow minnows Sierra Leone and Botswana. In front of those sparse crowds in Johannesburg and Durban, the team won 4-0 and 1-0 respectively. The latter win was far from convincing, demonstrating just why people choose to abstain from watching the team in the first place.
If they beat the Liberians, it’ll be the first Afcon since the 2019 edition. The team also missed out on participation in 2010, 2012 and 2017 and 2022. ThoseDespite Bafana Bafana’s attendance woes, the problem of stadium attendance is prevalent even at club level.
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