Football fans seem to have forgotten how difficult it was not being allowed to attend matches at the stadiums during the Covid-19 pandemic, writes Menzi Magubane.
Now that Covid-19 is largely behind us and there are no restrictions on fans attending live matches in numbers, South African football fans are back to their bad behaviour.
The last couple of weeks there has been trending video clips where fans were tackling each in the stands.
The first was when Orlando Pirates defeated Mamelodi Sundowns 3-0 in the MTN8 semi-final at Mmabatho Stadium three weeks ago. In that video Downs fans were fighting each other after the match outside the stadium.
The same behaviour was witnessed again over the weekend on Saturday. This time it happened inside the stadium at the stands at FNB Stadium where Pirates lost 4-0 to Sundowns in the Carling Black Label Cup final.
The video seen all over social media seemed to show Pirates fans having a go at one another.
Sport is supposed to unite people of all races, not be the cause of violence. I do agree that these things happen everywhere in the world – and fans will turn on each other especially when their teams lose.
Even players on the pitch go at each other but such behaviour shouldn’t be condoned.
What makes it worse is that children are watching. In South Africa fans often take their kids to the stadiums. Kids are there to experience fun, not barbaric behaviour by the adults.
Such behaviour paints the wrong picture of our football and fans should know that the league has the right to ban them from attending live matches.
Pictured above: The Carling Black Label Cup fans
Image source: @SABCSport
