Andrew Muchineripi Soccer
Another Sunday, another hot Highveld afternoon, another match in the seemingly endless Castle Premiership programme. Fixture number 270 to be precise. Mid-table Moroka Swallows versus relegation candidates African Wanderers.
The setting last weekend was George Goch Stadium, a modest, homely stadium one long goal kick from the M1 highway that, like so many South African soccer stadia, would be better off for a few coats of paint.
About 3E000 supporters have gathered at a venue 10 minutes’ drive from the Johannesburg CBD and most wisely opt for the covered stands that provide shelter from the heat of a cloudless sky.
As the 3pm kickoff approaches, Swallows are huddled in their dressing room listening to words of wisdom from Walter Rautmann, a German-born coach with more clubs than there are pages in this newspaper.
A look of slight concern is etched on the match officials’ faces. It is time to perform the pre-match ritual of checking identity cards and there is no sign of Wanderers from Durban.
The room reserved for the visitors is unoccupied. Surprise, surprise!
Wanderers have lost 14 matches out of 29, so the muti is obviously not working. Still they believe passionately in it and that is their right.
It is a taboo subject. Questions go unanswered. If looks could kill, many soccer scribes would be dead. Wanderers will not change in the dressing room because they believe evil spirits envelop the four walls.
Suddenly, from the side of the stand, tall, physically formidable men in red and white “toothpaste” shirts and white shorts emerge. They walk to the tunnel leading from the dressing rooms to the pitch. No further.
Another day, another challenge, another superstitious team. For a team on the brink of the abyss, Wanderers are remarkably cheerful. If these are condemned men, they are going to the gallows oblivious to what awaits them.
The screening parade is over, no “illegals” have been discovered and the time for action is upon us. Defeat will not close the trapdoor above Wanderers, but even one point from a draw would do very nicely, thank you.
Rautmann, clad in a casual shirt that was not bought last week, shorts and the mandatory shades, greets his opposite number Henry Cele and they embrace near the centre circle. All is fair in love, war and the struggle for premiership points.
Cele, the actor of Shaka Zulu fame, is a tall, slim man in designer jeans, shirt and sunglasses. He looks smart and relaxed like someone who has just completed a successful fashion shoot.
They retire to the respective benches and the struggle for supremacy commences with play switching from end to end. The pace is fast, leading to many mistakes with the teams battling to compose fluent passing movements.
But as the round, white object moves speedily about the soft, well grassed pitch, the match generates excitement. Perhaps it is just as well Swallows (alias the Beautiful Birds) can count on fewer than 5E000 faithful followers.
The stands virtually rock, such is the vibe from chants, songs and toyi-toying. Old men with converted miners’ helmets, younger ones tucking into fried chicken and pap, and children eating chips and drinking fruit juice with relish.
Half-time arrives goalless and Wanderers retreat, not to the change room, but a position behind the stand that the “evil spirits” have not occupied.
The stands are alive with the sound of intense conversation. Swallows may have little to play for as they trail championship challengers Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs by many points, yet have gathered sufficient energy not to be sucked into the quagmire Wanderers are trying to claw away from.
It is the Birds who take control and goals from Phumlani Dindi and Lucas Sebone earn them the points, leaving Wanderers to reflect on an increasingly desperate situation as they fly back to the city where the sun never sets.
Wanderers have won over many neutrals this season with an adventurous style that has reaped a rich harvest of goals only to be let down by a defence that concedes even more.
The much-vaunted 35-goal attack of Phumlani Mkhize, Siyabonga Nomvete and Sibusiso Zuma does not click on this occasion with only Zuma, threatening.
So the dog fight continues with Santos from Cape Town and Real Rovers from Pietersburg below Wanderers and the illustrious (but no longer successful) Durban club Amazulu just above them.
It is not a place for those who suffer from claustrophobia, because Santos, Rovers and Wanderers have 27 points each and are separated only by goal difference, while Clive Barker-coached Amazulu have 29.
Wanderers have home advantage over Rovers this weekend in a match that could determine which club survives and which is relegated. Perhaps the only certainty is that Wanderers will use a dressing room this time round.