There was a time not so long ago when talk of the country’s big three meant Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and Moroka Swallows.
How times have changed.
The fixture list set Swallows a tough eight days of playing against the big three. That is because Mamelodi Sundowns, who lost 1-2 to Swallows on Wednesday, have replaced the once-mighty Dube Birds as part of the troika ruling the roost in the local game.
In fairness to Swallows, theirs has been a decline caused by a management that, though willing, was simply out of its depth when football quickly changed from being easily run on a budget of a few thousand rand a month to requiring something in the region of R1-million to compete.
Swallows take on Kaizer Chiefs at the Johannesburg stadium on Sunday. Then they take on their other Soweto neighbours, Pirates, at Ellis Park next Wednesday.
The Chiefs fixture gives Swallows not only the chance to prove that they are still there with the big boys, but also an opportunity of repeating last season’s victory in the corresponding fixture. It was one of only two Chiefs losses in the entire league season.
Swallows have been accused by many, including their own fans, of lacking ambition and settling for a top-eight position instead of seriously challenging for honours.
The Birds’ buying over the years has also not given a hint of a club that wants to reclaim its ”rightful” position as a major force.
They have bought several talented players such as Goodman Mazibuko, Mohammed Ouseb and Hareaipha Marumo — but only when these players’ careers were already on the decline.
The team once known as the Beautiful Birds because of their entertaining style of play would now more aptly be described as birds of prey because the sole aim of conquering their opponents has replaced the finesse that was the trademark of the maroon-and-white clad side over the years.
Now that the club has landed a multimillion-rand sponsorship from Volkswagen, the excuse of a tight budget will be received with little sympathy from their long-suffering supporters.
They would want to see the club that, together with Chiefs, set the record crowd of about 103 000 at the JPS final in 1985, return to the glory years.
The club has said that the VW sponsorship is a new dawn. For their fans and the sceptics, the glory years could start with the Birds showing what they are made of when they meet Chiefs and Pirates.