There were considerably more Democratic Republic of Congo fans than those shouting for Bafana Bafana at Orlando Stadium on Tuesday.
Safa need to address the matter of small crowds at Bafana games as a matter of urgency.
Usually, teams are popular drawcards because they win matches, but this has not been the case with the national side.
Under the guidance of Belgian coach Hugo Broos, the team are on a nine-match unbeaten run, which works out 400 days since they tasted defeat.
Rude awakening
Broos was rudely surprised on Tuesday when the visiting Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) team had more supporters than Bafana at the Orlando Stadium.
After the match, Broos said he and his players felt it was like an away game. He added that the DRC drew great inspiration from their vocal supporters.
South Africa’s match-winner Lyle Foster said that Bafana needed the support of the “12th man” to help the team through difficult patches.
He appealed to fans to support Bafana in future, especially because the team were on a winning streak.
Many SA football observers were taken aback by the huge turnout of DRC fans, and it came to light that Safa, through their CEO Lydia Monyepao, had “mobilised” DRC fans via their embassy.
During an interview with Thabiso Mosia on Radio 2000, Monyepao explained how the booming DRC turnout had come about.
“Well, it’s an incredible attendance. We went out to mobilise for more supporters the following Saturday (when the crowd was very small),” Monyepao said.
Before Tuesday’s match, Bafana played Namibia last Saturday, also at Orlando Stadium, where the proverbial one man and his dog were in attendance.
Boost attendance
This prompted Monyepao to do something to boost the attendance for the next game, and hence she turned to the DRC embassy instead of finding a way of appealing to SA fans.
It was a naive act of the highest order, and huge support for the visiting DRC could easily have taken the game away from Bafana.
What Monyepao was trying to do falls in the domain of the marketing director, and Safa have not filled that post since former Banyana defender Amanda Dlamini resigned last November.
It remains a mystery as to why the post has not been filled, because the vacancy was advertised over two months at the beginning of the year.
Safa should address this issue as a matter of urgency and appoint a committee, rather than rely on their administrators, to find a marketing director.
The administrators should have performed this task long ago.
Broos appointment
At the time of Broos’s appointment, Safa appointed a committee of former coaches, players and administrators to find a replacement for sacked national team coach Molefi Ntseki.
It turned out to be a good move, because Broos has proved to be an excellent choice.
Bafana have four matches remaining this year, and two are home games – against eSwatini (a friendly on October 13) and Benin (a 2026 World Cup qualifier on November 13).
eSwatini and Benin have little or no appeal, but a resourceful marketing person in the mould of the late Abdul Bhamjee would find a way of luring fans through the turnstiles, so that Bafana’s “12th man” again comes into play.