It will come as a surprise to many to see our national side in the semifinal of Africa’s biggest football prize.
We have all but neglected to get behind Bafana Bafana and we can rectify that by showing them how much their heroics at the African Cup of Nations mean to us, writes Gasant Abarder.
Bafana Bafana will be playing in a semifinal of one of world football’s biggest tournaments tomorrow, the African Cup of Nations (Afcon). People seem surprised but if you’ve been watching closely over the last few years or so, you will know it isn’t a fluke.
Bafana overcame World Cup semifinalists and tournament favourites Morocco in the quarterfinal at the weekend without so much as breaking a sweat. It was the second time recently they had beaten Morocco – the giant killers who had beaten Portugal, Spain and Belgium at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
But we’ve been conditioned to make Bafana a scapegoat when realistically it is tougher to be world beaters in football than it is in rugby and cricket. In the two latter codes, there are only a handful of nations that compete. In football, the stakes are much higher and it is much more competitive.
If you know what coach Hugo Broos and his team have been up to before the penalty shootout quarterfinal heroics against Cape Verde, you wouldn’t be surprised that captain Ronwen Williams saved an incredible four spot kicks.
Yet, there has been little hype or excitement about Bafana’s exploits. There are no football Fridays, people wearing their national colours or a president announcing public holidays. And perhaps with good reason because since Bafana lifted Afcon in 1996 on home soil there has been disappointment after disappointment.
In fact, Bafana has become a metaphor for mediocrity. When you point out racial imbalances in the make-up of other national sides then the riposte will almost certainly be that Bafana consists almost entirely of black players (which is in fact the correct demographic spread when you look at our population).
Even SuperSport, those guys who ram promos in our faces when our national sides compete, have been subdued in creating hype around Bafana. The commentators they assigned to Bafana’s group stages have been a cliché fest. It was hard to sit through, even though our national side did the business against the top opposition.
Football was always my first love and I grew up wanting our national side to be one of the major footballing nations. I had grown up on a diet of watching English football but started following our local sides in the PSL and slowly ditched England shirts for Bafana shirts as our national side emerged from international obscurity after being banned for apartheid.
It was football that gave the nation hope. In the darkest days of our country’s history, the likes of Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Swallows brought light – 90 minutes at a time. I had hoped that our national side could deliver a brand of pride on a similar scale but after Afcon 1996 it wasn’t to be. It has instead been almost 30 years of disappointment.
Bafana faces Nigeria in the semifinal tomorrow night. But whatever happens, our team has already exceeded expectations to get to this point. It is good that folks are now finally waking up to the fact that we’re two wins away from being Afcon champions – even though we’re in dire need of a goal-poaching striker.
At last, Bafana is reclaiming its rightful place as the carrier of our hopes and aspirations and is no longer the subject of ridicule and a yardstick for failure. I, for one, am tired of Bafana being the butt of the joke at braais and social gatherings.
Do yourself a favour and watch tomorrow’s match. You will see a team that understands the assignment and the magnitude of the occasion. They are confident on the ball and know how to beat big sides like Nigeria. Don’t be too surprised if they win the whole thing.
Win or lose, Bafana deserves our respect. They deserve a football Friday, to be met at the airport as the heroes they are and, dare I say, a public holiday, Mr President.
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