Football returned with a banger of an opener to get the new DStv Premiership season going.
Cape Town City pulled out all the stops to make the maiden match of the 2022-23 campaign an eventful affair on and off the pitch.
It was a party with bells and whistles and Cape Town Stadium was buzzing when Eric Tinkler’s troops welcomed defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns, who are on a crusade to capture a sixth successive Premier Soccer League championship.
A colourful crowd created a carnival atmosphere on the terraces, while special guests were rolled out in a magical moment at half-time. The favourite daughter of Cape Town, Desiree Ellis, who is three-time Caf Women Coach of the Year and recently crowned Wafcon champion, was saluted along with some of her Banyana Banyana team members as they showed off their African queen gold medals.
In case you missed it, Ellis has a mural in Salt River in honour of her wonder work in women’s football.
Football should not be allowed to go back to a place where the value of the life of supporters is placed at risk
On the pitch, the football was proper. There’s nothing like an open, flowing, end-to-end game peppered with chances aplenty. Both teams delivered on that end. Were City more clinical, the numbers on the scoreboard would be different from the 2-0 victory in favour of Sundowns.
But there is always an unwarranted sideshow that serves to soil the image of the league. “Just four hours before tonight’s game, I was told the PSL has not approved FNB as a sponsor and I need to remove them from the jersey,” protested City chairman John Comitis on Marawa Sports Worldwide.
The ticket for the match between Royal AM and Kaizer Chiefs played at the Chatsworth Stadium last night was an example of making a mockery and undermining the authority of the league.
Apart from looking like a stub to gain entry into a Trinco tea and Marie biscuits stokvel, the ticket stands poles apart from the prescripts of the Safety at Sports and Recreational Events Act of 2010.
Printed by Copy Magic Express, it showed the fixture, kick-off time, venue, date and entrance fee. For a category A game, this thing is a complete joke of a coupon. The Act is clear on event ticketing.
It says where a high-risk event is to be hosted, event tickets must at least contain the following information on the rear: nature of event; date, day and time of the event; venue; and reserved seating details (category, block/sector number, seat number, row, price).
It also prescribes that as far as stadiums are concerned, the ticket must clearly indicate the spectator access gate and/or turnstiles which must be used to access the stadium.
Crucially, the total number of tickets must not exceed the safe spectator capacity of a stadium or venue hosting an event or any of its designated spectator viewing areas.
Those who were around during one of the darkest days of SA soccer will recall that production of such poor quality ticketing was one of the main contributing factors to people losing lives at Ellis Park Stadium in 2001.
There has not been a whiff of condemnation from the powers that be in Parktown against this right royal mess. The silence can be read to mean that the league condones this rubbish.
The PSL cannot allow its product to be associated with such shoddiness. It prides itself on being a professional entity. But it seems like lessons are quick to be forgotten.
We don’t have to have masterminds of counterfeit working overtime to score themselves a quick buck because a member club allows a window with cheapskate tickets.
One hopes there was no risk to life at Chatsworth yesterday. But the ground is fertile for something untoward to occur if the Royal AM ticket non-compliance continues unabated.
Football should not be allowed to go back to a place where the value of the life of supporters is placed at risk. For whatever reason. That would be a right royal first-class ticket to hell.
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