Crowds: significant part of the spectacle in soccer

Lazarus Sauti

In Africa, soccer is arguably the most popular sport, recreationally, economically as well as regarding active and passive participants. It is like religion in some countries – the third followed after Christianity and Islam.

Sadly, supporters pride themselves in supporting their teams from afar. They do not attend matches at stadiums. For this, attendance is a problem across African sports.

The crowd attendance problem is mainly caused by the poor standard of our most African leagues. Football supporters are not dumb; they want to see quality football all the time.

More so, violence or hooliganism drives supporters away from stadiums.

Accordingly, new South Africa’s Premier Soccer League Chief Executive Officer, Brand de Villiers says low attendance at stadiums is an area of concern.

“Attendances at stadiums are low and definitely an area we need to focus on,’ Villiers said.

Football Analyst Kingsley Kobo concurs with Villiers and attributed the problem to colonial hangover. He believes that many African supporters want to be associated with European teams more than their local clubs.

Kobo said: “Countless African football fans are able to name nearly all of the players from most of Europe’s elite clubs and even give clear details about their career, but ask them to name the first XI of their country’s top club, they will fumble, blush and give you maybe two or three names, without any knowledge of the players’ ages or where they were bought from.”

Because of this reason, African leagues are losing substantial sponsorships and television rights following lack of interest from supporters - the declining viewership. This lack of interest is caused by a plethora of problems.

Soccer critic Bornwell Matowa believes that people do not go to stadiums because of clubs’ poor marketing strategies.

“Football clubs are not doing enough to familiarise with local people. They are not fully embracing emerging technologies to market their brands,” Matowa said.

He adds that most football teams in Africa lack culture and identity. They do not provide entertainment in stadiums and this is driving supporters away from stadiums.

“In England, Liverpool Football Club fans sing their famous anthem “You Will Never Walk Alone” at every home game’s kickoff; Manchester United have their “Glory Glory Manchester” song played at full time whistle at Old Trafford.

“To attract supporters, African football teams should install this kind of culture or tradition at their home games,” added Matowa.

It is also critical for African soccer teams to improve their ticketing systems. Most African teams have no season ticket holders.

Media in countries within and across the African continent is not helping either. Many countries in Africa do not even screen their league matches due to the lack of sponsorship. Some relay only the last few games of the league and the finals of their cup competitions.

Lack of sponsorship and low attendance at stadiums is hampering the growth of soccer in the African continent. Business magnates are not interested in acquiring football clubs in Africa in the same manner as they do in Europe and Asia, because for the most part, the leagues lack potential and are not flourishing financially.

Moreover, most football clubs in the continent struggle to earn loans from banks to invest in facilities like stadiums and clubhouses and the purchase of players, because they may not be able to pay those amounts back.

Villiers admits the standard of the football has to improve. He said: “With the help of the media and sponsors, we can find a lasting solution.”

Accordingly, it is time for sponsors to exclusively support football teams so that they can not only rely on gate takings.

Matowa says football teams should be innovative and provide more than football to attract supporters and increase attendance levels at stadiums. They should first and foremost improve safety at stadiums.

“Teams should offer more than football. They should do fundraising campaigns and at the same time sell club merchandise,” Matowa said.

Matowa added that: “Teams should know their worth. Small teams should charge fees that attract more supporters but for this to be effective, football administrators should set up a price ceiling.”

Supporters want value for their money. Therefore, clubs should improve their youth systems; they should improve their style of play and the standard of their coaches. Teams should not recycle players but they should look for talented young players.

Instead, teams should be informed to 25 players (plus five youngsters) per window period. Because of this clubs will stop signing everything that walks and focus more on quality. By getting teams to register young players, supporters will see more quality and the players themselves will have more of a chance of playing.

African teams should be more professional and hire qualified public relations and marketing experts so that they can unlock their value and benefit from their brands.