Moroka Swallows: A football giant could fall

As one of the giants of Soweto and South African football battle against their demise in the elite league, Gauteng MEC for sport, arts, culture and recreation Molebatsi Bopape has called on all Gauteng soccer loving people to support Moroka Swallows.

She urged people to stand behind the club as it battles for survival in the face of a threat of relegation from the Premier Soccer League’s elite Absa Premiership. “A club with such rich history and heritage as Swallows deserves to be in top-flight football where it belongs.

There can’t be no imagining – whether you support the team or not – of South African premier football without Moroka Swallows,” said Bopape, reminiscing of the days when the club was on everybody’s lips when it took the football fraternity by storm.

‘Don’t follow me – follow the birds’ people used to say when Swallows were at their prime and constituted the original Soweto derby, which pitted Swallows against Orlando Pirates before the split of the ’70s which gave birth to Kaizer Chiefs and opened the way for a new set of rivalry that overtook Swallows.

Swallows play their last two matches this week to avoid automatic relegation from the premier league to the first division. They play their next game on 6 May, against Ajax Cape Town in Cape Town and the last one against Bloemfontein Celtic in Soweto over the coming weekend.

“Against Celtic on 9 May, we call on soccer loving people of Gauteng to descend upon the Dobsonville stadium and rally behind the team in support of players and the coach to ensure the team stays in the premier league.

“Gauteng has had seven teams in the PSL [Premier Soccer League] in as many years and with the possibility of one being relegated – and in the form of Swallows – it will seriously not go down well for some of us. We wish them well and may they take strength and confidence in knowing that the province is behind them,” Bopape said.