When Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie announced that his eldest son Calvin Le John bought the status of SuperSport United and that they were renaming the club Siwelele FC, there was song and dance; there was razzmatazz, and tears of joy flowed like the Nile River among the passionate people of Bloemfontein.
If you want to delight the masses in the City of Roses, ask them about Bloemfontein -Celtic, let them regale you with tales of Phunya Sele Sele.
In came Siwelele FC. Anew jersey and logos were designed. Businessman Eddie Modise had bought the naming rights of Bloemfontein Celtic but McKenzie and his crew shiboboed him and formed Siwelele FC – at first the supporters were a little bothered, but as soon as the new green and white jerseys were available, they forgot about the Celtic copyright and intellectual property wars – they just wanted to get to the grandstands and sing their songs.
There was pandemonium at the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium in their opening match. The fans had been starving for their traditional Celtic colours since the team was sold in 2021. Golden Arrows were the unfortunate club fixtured to enter the Botshabelo cauldron on that fateful Friday. They were not only thumped 3-1 but they were also drowned in a bubble of eardrum-splitting decibels from the stands. The party was suddenly back in Bloemfontein.
But after that victory in the opening match, things have gone rather pear shaped. The team is wallowing and has staggered downwards to the relegation zone. The club is busing players to matches as far as 600km.
It threatened to get rid of lazy players, and now the SA Football Players’ Union is all over them like a cheap suit. One of the most admired diski bosses, Stan Matthews, and Bafana Bafana legend Andre Arendse were sacked.
We have seen enough chance takers and palookas in previous years – Max Tshabalala (Bloemfontein Celtic) and David Mogashoa (Moroka Swallows) are some of them. They rolled the dice, invested and sacrificed their family businesses for the fame that comes with owning a football club.
They got their two minutes of fame and seats alongside the likes of Kaizer Motaung, Irvin Khoza in the board of governors. But they could not keep up with the demands of running a professional club and they were out of the PSL faster than you can scream laduma.
How can we forget about another chancer, Shauwn “MaMkhize” Mkhize, who is now turning up the heat at Mbabane Highlanders AM. She has taken the razzmatazz, the motorcar convoys and the blaring speakers to the grandstands in Manzini.
It’s either the locals are having a ball with her or they simply cannot fathom or keep up with her unorthodox ways.
MaMkhize’s story with Royal AM is well documented. She had tax issues and her club was put under curatorship to recover a reported R40-million tax bill. The Betway Premiership, in its first season with the PSL, ended up with an embarrassing situation of finishing the campaign with 15 clubs.
We know McKenzie is well connected and he has buddies in high places. Le John bragged that they have R200-million to build a facility in Bloemfontein. We can only pray that he was not spewing hot air.
We just hope it’s not going to be déjá vu – with yet another club finding itself in a financial conundrum this season. We have seen the horror movies and their sequels and it is enough. The fans, especially the green and white brigade in Bloem, should not be subjected to such…they do not deserve that at all.
Visit SW YouTube Channel for our video content
