adminSOWETO is the iconic stand at Barbourfields which is the spiritual home of the die-hard Highlanders fans.
It is very special, to all the Bosso fans, because this is where they say the most loyal, and most passionate, of their family, watch their club from. It is their Kop, the special stand at Anfield, where the outpouring of love, towards Liverpool, rings loudest.
When Soweto is in full cry, on the occasions Bosso are doing well, it provides such a beautiful sight and amazing sounds it’s difficult, if not impossible, not to be seduced by it all.
On Sunday, Highlanders got their 2023 Castle Lager Premiership campaign underway with a goalless draw against ZPC Kariba at Barbourfields.
It wasn’t the result which the country’s oldest football club wanted but it wasn’t the worst possible outcome for them.
It didn’t help their mood that, just 24 hours earlier, their biggest rivals, Dynamos, had started their campaign with a 1-0 win over Hwange, in the same stadium.
And, that the other member of the traditional Big Three, CAPS United, also won on Sunday after a comfortable 2-0 victory over Manica Diamonds.
But, even without winning their first game, there was something which Bosso had, on the opening weekend of the latest campaign, which no other team can boast of – the number of fans who came to support them.
Soweto was filled up to capacity, painted in the black-and-white Bosso colours, and full of life as the supporters came in their thousands to back their favourite team.
In an era where fans have been lost to the domestic Premiership, with last season being dominated by the sights of matches played in empty stadiums, it was refreshing to see Soweto brimming with life.
This is what our football needs because, without the fans, the game will not attract the interest of sponsors and this will have a downstream effect on the clubs’ capacity to bankroll their activities, including paying their players.
The biggest challenge for the PSL leaders right now is to find ways of how they can ensure that fans return to our stadiums in their numbers, as was the case in the past.
Some have argued that the quality of the game on display these days isn’t good enough to guarantee the patronage of the fans in their huge numbers.
Fair point!
But, this is what we have and we have to support it rather than spend all our time comparing our players to those we watch on television in the English Premiership.
The leagues are different and the reason the English Premiership is so good comes from the fact that it can lure fine players, from all over the world, to come and play for its clubs.
The Malawi top-flight league, where Callisto Pasuwa coaches, is nowhere closer to even the lowest-tier league in England but fans still go and watch the likes of Big Bullets and Wanderers.
The Bosso fans showed us on Sunday that there is still interest in our local league and our hope is that fans of other clubs will follow suit.
Online Reporter