Will the real Bosso fans please stand up!

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
FOOTBALL fans are also known as the 12th player. All of them combined cheering on a single team, it doesn’t matter whether they are just 50 or 50 000, they are classified as the 12th player, meaning they are adding to the advantage of the team they are supporting because the other one will be having the normal 11 field players.

It is expected that when a team has one extra player over their opponents, victory is usually guaranteed.
It may not always happen but the probability of it happening is higher.

This is why hugely followed teams like Dynamos, Caps United, Highlanders, Hwange (when at home), same as Shabanie Mine, always talk of banking on the 12th player for that extra push. They know the amazing impact of the 12th player.

But when that 12th player only becomes visible during celebrations after scoring, it becomes a concern. The 12th player should be visible even when the team is under siege so that the players in the field are encouraged to continue fighting.

Highlanders fans are known for their colourful and flowery appearances whenever their team is in action, they turn the terraces, especially at Barbourfields, into a sea of black and white which in years gone by would terrify visiting teams. In years gone by, Bosso fans would sing from start to finish, urging the boys on and even when players made dreadful mistakes they continued to cheer them on by clapping hands, urging them to pick themselves up and get on with the business of the day.

Is this still happening during Bosso matches? The answer is a big no! Bosso fans only wake up and start singing when the team scores or exchanges a few good passes. When the chips are down, Barbourfields Stadium resembles a funeral wake and when playing against a team with some following, one would think it’s that team playing at home.

Unlike Dynamos fans who sing to cheer up their team, Bosso fans seem to want the opposite. Someone once said “bafuna ukuthi i-team ibachaze kuphela, not ukuthi bona beyichaze”.

There was a disappointing scene during the match against Whawha when a young boy who had come in as a substitute missed a sitter at the Mpilo End goal. Fans at Empankweni Stand suddenly bayed for the boy’s blood, they started booing him through the usual demotivating whistles.

It’s the same fans who always call on the coaches to bring in young players but how do these youngsters gain experience when they are rejected by their own fans? By booing their own players for a single mistake, Highlanders supporters are not only taking out that player from the game but the rest of the players especially youngsters or those still new into the system because they will put themselves into the same shoes as the booed player. They will become scared from getting into the box or even doing something extraordinary lest they make a mistake and become victims of the unforgiving fans.

It’s high time maybe Bosso fans adopted the same attitude as their Dynamos rivals.

The “we don’t care attitude” must come to an end, it does nothing to help the team.

We have seen in the English Premier League, supporters cheer their team even if it’s clear it’s for a lost cause. That support means a lot to the players, they will want to go an extra mile in the next game, all for the fans but if they are booed in front of visitors by their own, it takes away that zeal to push.

Highlanders fans must bring back that spirit that saw them flushing out missile throwers and handing them over to the police. That is the oneness needed and not this attitude of turning against your own players.

Last Saturday at Barbourfields Stadium, we saw Dynamos keeping an ineffective player, one Alex Oromotal who was their gunman. Oromotal had nightmarish early minutes yet not even a single whistle was heard from the Mpilo End, instead the fans kept on singing until the Nigerian slowly got into the game.

Had they whistled every time he lost possession or missed an opportunity as would certainly have been the case had he been a Highlanders player, it’s almost certain he would have been taken out much earlier.

This is what the 12th player must do. Naturally fans become agitated when the same player keeps making mistakes which cost the team but they should not boo a player for just one mistake.

The sad part is that there are Bosso players who are seen as gods, they are never criticised even if they cause divisions among players.

Some Highlanders fans must go for lessons at Dynamos on how not to demoralise their own players.

Highlanders are going through a terrible patch and when Bosso sneezes a lot of people catch a cold. This is the time that everyone associated with the team should pull in one direction like baboons. Baboons always fight among themselves but once cornered or invaded by an enemy, they put aside their differences and deal with the imminent danger.