The road to South Africa: What’s football like over there?
With just the Play Off games left to go, the World Cup suddenly seems a lot closer. Here at Umbro, we’re trying to build up to the main event in South Africa by getting an idea of what the country is like, starting with a look at their domestic football setup.
Most of us here in the UK will only be familiar with South African players who’ve come over to the Premiership to play – Lucas Radebe, Benni McCarthy and Steven Pienaar – or perhaps the Kaizer Chiefs, the domestic team made famous by a bunch of musicians from Leeds. Indeed, the majority of the South African national team is made up of players who play in European leagues.
However, there is a thriving domestic football scene in South Africa. The top division, the ABSA Premiership, features sixteen teams, including the Kaizer Chiefs, current champions Supersport United and teams with exotic names such as the Orlando Pirates and the Golden Arrows. Two teams in the top division play in Umbro kits – Mpumalanga Black Aces and Free State Stars, are both currently sitting in mid-table.
Just below the Premiership, the National First Division is split into two regional streams – Inland and Coastal – with the top two in each getting the chance to reach the top division through a series of play off games.
Although attendances at the games is dwarfed by English football crowds – 5,000 to 10,000 is a typical figure in the top division – the actual fanbase of the teams is much larger. Because of the large distances between grounds – it’s a seventeen hour drive from Cape Town to Johannesburg – many fans watch the matches on TV in shabeens – semi-illegal bars that crop up in the townships, where the fans can offer noisy and colourful support.
The domestic season will come to a close in May, just weeks before the World Cup begins. Some of the domestic stadiums, such as Kaizer Chiefs’ Ellis Park ground, are being used in the tournament, but most of them have been built especially for the event. The 70,000-seater Green Point Stadium (pictured, above), nearing completion, sits on the coast of Cape Town with the iconic Table Mountain in the background.
With most of the stadiums nearly finished, excitement in South Africa is building, and will depend heavily on the progress of the national side. Fears still remain amongst residents about the logistical difficulties of hosting such an event, but not enough to dampen the enthusiasm of those who have neglected the domestic league in favour of the English Premiership or other European teams, and are looking forward to seeing the top stars in the flesh. Hopefully, once the tournament has been and gone, South Africa’s domestic league will also benefit from the exposure to football’s top attractions.
If you’d like to learn more about South African football, two of the best sources of info are:
On 18 Oct 2009, at 11:40 am Danny wrote:
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On 25 Apr 2010, at 5:50 pm Michael Basson wrote:
Just a warning to your readers: I traveled to SA in Feb 2010 and booked a car to be collected on arrival at Cape Town International Airport. On arrival the car hire company told me my credit card could not be accepted because the numbers on the card in not embossed (stand out). They promptly refused to rent me a car and after inquiring at all the car rental companies I was given the same answer. Apparently SA is so behind the times that they can not do electronic transactions. They need a card that they can swipe on a paper document or else they refuse to help you. My credit card is an electronic credit card, I have used it in the US for car hire, even in Namibia. Only in SA I was refused and found myself stuck at the airport and my whole trip without transport. I would appreciate if you could warn your readers about this.