While Bafana Bafana were dissecting hapless Rwanda as if they were lab rats to book a place at the 2026 Fifa World Cup midweek, a section of local football followers started behaving worryingly and childishly.
When fans of Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs started bragging and having a go at each other, it was so disparaging.
If it is meant to be banter, it does not sound funny at all. In fact, it comes out as childish.
That it came out from some grown-arse men across the country makes you want to conclude that these folks may have just discovered what national team football is all about.
I can pardon a bunch of laaities bragging about their favourite players in the national team, but to hear top executives, former players, academics, scholars of the game and elders go on a rant about how Pirates took SA to the World Cup; and about how Sundowns players built the foundation and the core of the team; and how a section of Chiefs die-hards were supporting Rwanda because coach Hugo Broos thinks Amakhosi players are not good enough for Bafana, is the most nonsensical thing supporters can come up with.
Even a dimwit member of the Safa national executive committee was seen doing the Pirates crossbones celebration on TV after one of the goals.
I mean, if a Safa executive, whose job is to build football in the country, can do such a discordant and divisive thing, then we are doomed as a nation – other nations are laughing. How divided can we really be?
In Mzanzi, we are generally calm and tolerant as a people; we do not have some of those mean and life-threatening derbies in the world.
Lives are sometimes lost when Boca Junior and River Plate face each other in Argentina, but fans of the two perennial enemies will howl in one voice when the Argentina national team is in action.
Security is always beefed up when the Manchester derby rolls into town.
But when some lout starts a fight with the yobs during England matches, it does not matter if they are Blue or Red, City and United will forge ahead together and can be as menacing as Shaka Zulu and his spear.
National team diski is all about having a pot-pourri of talent from various clubs and cooking one hell of a concoction that will leave the opposition teams mesmerised by shibobos, lung-busting gallops and top-drawer goals – as we witnessed against the hapless lads from Paul Kagame’s land.
Yes, we know the three killer goals were a marvel, but some Pirates fans must stop getting ahead of themselves.
Chiefs, as a club, better come to the party pretty quickly – SA football can benefit immensely from a supportive Khosination, who take no heed of the sulkers among them who supported Bafana opponents.
SA is back on top of the African football food chain, and focus should be on the association to start promoting Bafana vigorously.
In September, the Springboks played two matches against the All Blacks and as many against the Pumas of Argentina. For the entire month, supermarkets, restaurants, work offices, shopping malls, drinking holes and pubs were painted in the green and gold Springboks colours.
Even in school, pupils and teachers were made to wear Springboks regalia when the rugby world champions were playing – the euphoria was in the air, everywhere you went.
On TV, the promos about Bok matches and wearing jerseys were in your face. It was Boks for breakfast, lunch and for supper.
The marketing campaigns were beamed and posted across all corners of the country.
It’s time to bring back Football Fridays – it worked like a charm around the 2010 World Cup.
The gents at Safa must catch a wake-up pretty fast.
