We lost the league because we didn’t have our fans, says Chiefs’ Motaung
"It was lonely and quiet in the stands around the county," said Motaung.
Kaizer Chiefs’ Marketing Director Jessica Motaung greets Amakhosi fans in Naturena. (Picture: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix)
Kaizer Chiefs’ marketing guru Jessica Motaung has revealed that part of the reason for the team’s failure to clinch the DStv Premiership (then Absa Premiership) title back in 2020 was because they did not have the supporters at the stadiums.
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Amakhosi had been leading the pack in the league with a sizable gap on rivals when the matches were halted due to the outbreak of Covid-19 that saw the country under lockdown.
When the games resumed three months later, they were played in the Bio-Bubble environment where the supporters were not allowed and training sessions were initially done in small groups.
That is when things went south for the Naturena-based side with Mamelodi Sundowns catching up on them and taking the title to Chloorkop on the last day of league action.
Now Jessica believes had the Chiefs fans been there, the team would have been able to run until the end without tripping.
She said this in response to the PSL allowing 50% of supporters at stadiums as regulations and restrictions have been eased a little.
“We are very excited to have supporters return to the stadium as announced by the PSL Chairman on Tuesday afternoon. It has been a long and challenging two years without supporters in the stadium. It was lonely and quiet in the stands around the county. It’s good that we will now be reunited with our 12th player soon,” she said.
“Chiefs and supporters had not been separated since the birth of the Club in 1970, but all this changed in 2020 when we started playing behind closed doors and this led to us losing the league title in the last few minutes of the 2019-20 season.
“We are glad that all that is in the past and we are looking forward to the singing and dancing that we love hearing and seeing at the different venues around the country.”
Chiefs travel to Chippa United this weekend in a league game but there will still be no supporters as they are only allowed back to the stadium as from April 8.
The first game that Amakhosi will have their supporters back will be a home fixture against SuperSport United on April 16.
