While the PSL remains mum about the possibility of soccer fans returning to stadiums, there was a buzz yesterday about vaccinated Bafana Bafana supporters who registered online to attend tonight’s match against Ethiopia at FNB Stadium.
But there will be no vuvuzelas allowed at the stadium due to health protocols or alcohol sales permitted.
All the 2,000 tickets were all booked by 6pm yesterday, two hours after they were made available online.
Bafana meet the Ethiopia side they beat 3-1 during their weekend encounter in the 2022 Qatar Fifa World Cup qualifiers. Tonight’s game is the first one in 18 months where fans will be allowed in the stadium since the country was placed under lockdown in March last year. As per lockdown regulations under level 1, only 2,000 fans will be allowed at the stadium.
Co-operative governance and traditional (Cogta) affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma amended regulation 69 of the Disaster Management Act to allow a maximum number of 2,000 fans to attend outdoor professional and non-professional sports events.
Tonight’s game has been described as make or break by Bertie Grobbelaar, Stadium Management SA MD.
“The biggest challenge is that soccer fans are not used to sitting at an allocated seat during games. Our ushers will ensure that fans maintain social distancing, wear masks at all times and there won’t be any alcohol allowed. We have to make it work to ensure that we get more games attended by bigger crowds as we slowly open up the stadiums,” said Grobbelaar.
Fans are urged to come to the match venue early as the verification process will take time.
“Also note the fact that kickoff is at 6pm on a weekday. Please try to come to the venue early if you are spectators, otherwise it is going to be a bottleneck at the verification marquee because this is going to take longer than the normal process,” Grobelaar said.
“We can’t allow vuvuzelas into the venue because of the health [protocols]. If you blow a vuvuzela, droplets are going to be distributed. You are also not allowed to bring any food or drinks. There will be vendors supplying fresh food and water and no alcohol to drink.”
Safa chief medical officer Dr Thulani Ngwenya announced earlier this week that only fully vaccinated people will be allowed to secure tickets online and to get into the stadium.
“This is a pilot project. It is done to check all our systems which we have put in place, that they are adequate and ready for us to start allowing spectators back and allowing the stadium to go back to full capacity in a phased manner... They will then be checked on the EVDS [Electronic Vaccination Data System] whether they are fully vaccinated, which is the most important requirement to be allowed to come into the stadium,” explained Ngwenya.
Applicants will then receive an SMS with a code before they can proceed to the stadium where they are expected to bring their original ID, vaccination card and the SMS they have received for verification. At the gate they will undergo a second EVDS verification process before being given their wristbands to get inside the stadium.
“Don’t come to the stadium if you have not applied,” urged Ngwenya. He added that this was a positive move to minimise the impact of Covid-19 while stimulating the sports fraternity. By yesterday, more than 19m people in SA had received Covid-19 jabs.
“We can’t be entirely excited because the virus keeps mutating all the time. We are hopeful that once we reach herd immunity [41m vaccinated people] that things will get back to normal. This project is also done to call on people to go and vaccinate.”
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