South African super fan Botha Msila has welcomed the decision by Marumo Gallants to take their DStv Premiership home games to Bloemfontein next season, but only on the condition that 90% of their matches will be played at the Petrus Molemela Stadium.
This was after Gallants confirmed on Thursday that they will officially be back in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) topflight after acquiring the status of Moroka Swallows.
“Following the final approval of the Premier Soccer League, (PSL) today, Marumo Gallants Football Club officially confirms the acquisition of Moroka Swallows Football Club,” the club said via a statement.
The club also confirmed that home games for the upcoming season would be played in Bloemfontein, Free State.
Gallants survived relegation by the scruff of the neck in the Motsepe Foundation Championship last season.
After the sale of Phunya Sele Sele to Royal AM before the 2021-22 season, Msila never had a place called home in SA football.
He was seen travelling the entire country supporting different teams. With Gallants now set to take their home games to his hometown, Msila will now have a club which he will support consistently.
“I think people are familiar that at one point, Marumo Gallants used to come and play some of their games in Bloemfontein way back before they were relegated,” Msila told Sunday World.
“They played a few games and out of those games, they never lost a single match. So, we managed to help them not to be relegated with our support.
“But out of nowhere, we didn’t know what the discussion behind our backs with our municipality was, but we ended up having to travel far away to go and support Marumo Gallants because they took their games out of our province.
“Some games were played in Rustenburg while others were taken to Polokwane. We don’t know what the agenda behind it was but this time, we need to be guaranteed that they are coming to Bloem in full circle … to give us their whole hand, not half of the hand,” Msila told Sunday World.
“But all in all, we as the fans of Bloemfontein Celtic and the entire Free State province, are 100% happy to have a team of PSL Caliber in our province.
“Whether they are going to play maybe in town or going to play at Rantai [Petrus] Molemela Stadium, we don’t know about that, but what we want, and urge is that the chairman [Abram Sello] brings 90% of the game to Rantai Molemela. because that’s where half of the fans are.
“You just want to walk to the stadium. Now some travel a long distance to go to the stadium and sometimes others will use double transport to go to the stadium.”
Msila said Bloemfontein Celtic fans were happy and looking forward to the return of big-time football to the city of roses.
