Like Samson reduced to a pretty ordinary guy in biblical times when shorn of his hair by Delilah, a listless Kaizer Chiefs seemingly lost their strength when deprived of traditional ”people power” in the goalless Premier Soccer League (PSL) draw against Black Leopards at the FNB Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
The landmark encounter — the first PSL fixture to be played with the enforced absence of spectators — was completed in ghostly splendour in keeping with a PSL disciplinary ruling arising from the vandalism among Chiefs’ vast army of supporters at a previous game.
Not one of the regular seats at the 80 000-capacity headquarters of South African soccer was occupied by a spectator, and when one journalist ventured on to the terraces he was immediately requested to return to the sanctity of the media area.
”We are simply trying to abide by the decision of the disciplinary committee,” said PSL chief operations officer Sizwe Nzimande, who added the entire operation had gone without a hitch and hardly a single supporter had turned up at the ground seeking admission.
”The handful who did turn up,” he added, ”were turned back without incident by security men and members of the metro police at a checkpoint at the fringes of the stadium.”
In truth, they missed precious little. Chiefs huffed and puffed their way to an uninspiring draw that cost them two valuable points and leaves them in third place in the log — seriously denting their prospects of retaining the PSL championship for a third successive occasion in the process.
”It was like attending a practice session,” complained one of the Chiefs players afterwards, with the resolute Leopards seemingly more able to be motivated by playing in front of several dozen members of the media, a small security force and a sprinkling of police.
One Amakhosi player who could have succeeded in emerging from the doldrums might have been John ”Shoes” Moshoeu, but the experienced livewire was injured and replaced by Zambian Songwe Chalwe in the 24th minute.
Chalwe was the player who came closest to scoring for Chiefs in the second half, with Guy Mutshi in Leopards’ goal performing admirable acrobatics on the few occasions Amakhosi were on target.
Leopards, for their part, had a number of inviting opportunities while employing a disciplined, counter-attacking format.
Sadly, adept finishing from either side proved as scarce as spectators on the terraces. — Sapa