SEDIBENG.- Hats off to Orlando Pirates players for standing in solidarity with Tshepang Moremi at the end of their recent game.

Moremi, who comes from Sharpeville in the Vaal, was booed by Pirates supporters when he came in as a substitute against Mamelodi Sundowns in the MTN8 first leg semi-finals at Orlando Stadium over the weekend. Matter of fact, he didn’t have a good game, but booing him was unacceptable to say the least.

To make matters worse, the boy is new at the club, nogal!

This is unacceptable for Pirates supporters to boo their players just because the boy is not one of their favourites. This is a bad culture that needs to be dealt with, sooner rather than later! The poor boy was traumatised after the game, and hats off to Pirates players who refused to go and greet their fans after the game, as they always do.

Zakes’ Sports Corner must compliment those players for standing in solidarity with one of their own.

For starters, Pirates signed Moremi from Amazulu during the offseason. He was one of the best players in PSL last season.

He can’t be, all of a sudden, a bad player in one game.

How so?

The truth is that Pirates is not the same team it was last season after the departure of their coach, Jose Riveiro. It was unfair for Pirates supporters to take their frustration out on the poor Moremi. Like Zakes’ Sports Corner mentioned earlier, the departure of Riveiro has affected the whole team. Unfortunately, players like Moremi came in when the club was trying out new combinations, with new players.

Those with long memories will recall how, in the past, players like Kingston Nkhata (Kaizer Chiefs) and Thamsanqa Gabuza (Orlando Pirates) were also booed by their supporters. Unfortunately for them, their teammates at the time didn’t have the guts to show them their support in public, like Pirates players did on Saturday.

The same incident once happened at the national level when Augustine Makalakalane from Sharpeville was also a victim of boo “boys” when he was playing for Bafana Bafana. The only sin he committed was wearing white soccer boots, which were different from the rest of his teammates.

This was during the 1996 African Cup of Nations, when South Africa was the hosting nation, and we won the tournament. It was the first time everyone saw a different soccer boot. Zakes’ Sports Corner advises Moremi to visit Makalakalane to find out how he dealt with boo “boys” in the South African football.

Zakes’ Sports Corner believes this was a good lesson to those boo “boys” who think that without them in the stands, football won’t be played.

Some small teams play in front of empty seats and still beat those with a big crowd on the stands.

For example, a team that has the biggest support in South African football when it comes to supporters finished outside of the top eight brackets, while teams with fewer supporters are now in the MTN8 semi-finals.

Football will humble you!