Mamelodi Sundown co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi has voiced his frustrations with regards to the government opening up stadiums for spectators.
2000 fans created a marvellous atmosphere to witness Sundowns beat Al Ahly 1-0 at FNB Stadium on Saturday in a Group A Caf Champions League game.
The current regulations in the Disaster Management Act allow for only 2 000 fans in stadiums, a matter that has had Mngqith upset.
In the Premier Soccer League (PSL), supporters are still prohibited from attending matches.
“I think SA must look at this thing [fans returning to stadiums] very closely. We had the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Cameroon [supporters were allowed to attend matches],” said Mngqithi.
“And if we really think as a country, we’ve rolled out our vaccination, and we’ve done very well, and we think we’re a bigger country than most in terms of our level of development, then we should be a little bit more confident.
“We have more people vaccinated in our country, and for that reason, we should even show confidence to outside countries by also opening this thing up. If you’ve got these people sitting on this side of the stadium, what’s the difference if you got the same thing happening on the other side, the other side and the other side.
“If there’s still a risk, there was a risk today. But there’s no risk. When we go to Al Ahly, they’re open for more than 5,000 people, but we open for 2,000, no.”
The Sundowns coach added: “If you go to Egypt, there are spectators, you go to Afcon [the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon] there are spectators, but SA still does not have spectators.
“It’s like maybe we’re trying to make sure that people buy more subscriptions [for pay television] to watch more games at home instead of making sure that the game is watched in the stadium.”
“And other teams are also suffering. Other teams, they don’t even have a sponsor, and they rely on gate takings.
“For how long must they continue without any money coming from the spectators? I honestly I think the country must look at this very closely, because I think at this stage we’re cheating ourselves.”
