Bakoena Sports Blog

By Mahlomola Martin Lefupana The 2019/2020 football season is only three month old, yet, the complaints about poor match officiating is at an alarming rate. Top coaches and clubs officials in the country including multiple winning league coaches like Pitso Mosimane, Gavin Hunt, Benni Mccarthy, Owen de Game and others have decried poor match officiating in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) competitions. The match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs was headlined as the battle for top spot, but Pitso Mosimane was on record accusing Chiefs benefits from poor match officiating. His assertion of poor match officiating was proven right, when Chiefs was controversially awarded a goal that looked offside.  This begs the question, is the PSL ready for Video Assistant Referee (VAR)? Whilst the answer to the question might be an obvious yes, given the relative successful implementation of the VAR practice in FIFA and CAF competitions, including in Asia a...

By Lefupana Mahlomola Martin  The late 90s is always remembered as one of the greatest period of football in Sekgosese, this, primarily because Matsena Giant Killers FC (Makhema) was making all sorts of wave in Limpopo and reaching the PSL in the 1998/9 season. The late 90s also represent an era where Sekgosese had good team from across the villages, with the names of Super Silence, Mamaila Golden, Thakgalane Panthers and Sehlale Flying quickly come to mind. As the 90s became the 2000s, the football landscape was quickly changing with the fading of Mighty Giants of Sekgosese in the form of Makhema. The game needed new heroes of the early time, in the newly formed Hunger Boys, young coach, Refilwe “River” Masetla was cooking a storm, with Mosipi at the center, while under the tutelage of legendary City Machete a prodigal son in Lengwinya was rising to the top.  Cassius “Lengwinya” is Moccasin boy through and through, h...

Lefupana Mahlomola Martin The emergence of new technologies and internet has been the backbone for growth in popularity Electronic Sports (eSports) in recent years. eSports is competitive video gaming, high-level games and spectating of web based games in a competitive environment. The increased interest in eSports has now created a thriving industry with competitive professional players, leagues, tournaments, organisations and community that follows the games. The overall global eSports market is estimated to be USD 1 billion in 2019 and it expected to grow by almost 20 % in the next five years. The emergence and growth of eSports is changing the manner in which people consume sports and it is expected to transform the sporting industry. While the market value of eSports in relatively unknown in South Africa, experts suggest that the market revenue is in excess of over R150 million in 2019. These purported figures are indicative of the market that is growing and brimming...

By Mahlomola Martin Lefupana The football season has just begun, while the transfer window is still open and clubs are looking to make some late additions to their squads. The fans across the country are taking to social media, especially Twitter and Facebook to keep updated on the latest news, score updates, but there is a growing trend to bash each other of Twitter. The South Africa football fans have taken Twitter by storm, causing upheaval and often leading to football trending at number one in Twitter daily trends. This, I would argue benefit the game. In the world where competition for attention is increasingly growing, football continues to enjoy its status as the biggest and passionately followed sport characterized by high emotions and bashing of losing teams, Twitter has certainly find home in football. For majority of football supporters reading this, I would bet they quickly run to Twitter or even Facebook when their rival team loses, take for example Or...

By Mahlomola Martin Lefupana Football is  the most passionately followed and played sport, an estimated 3.5 billion globally support the game yet there is a sense that fans are being priced out of the game financially and emotionally. Football is historically known as the sport of the working class, but recent ownership of football clubs and how the game is run is increasing isolating the fans. The current football ownership structure is characterised as business, corporate, and entrepreneurial in nature. While is acknowledged that football has become a multi-billion rand business, it remains a social business in nature and therefore the fans are the cornerstone of the business. The growth of football as a business through media exposure, broadcasting rights and sponsorship investment has ensure that football has becomes a key aspects of entertainment industry and contributor to the economy . Football clubs ownership in South Africa have historically been in the ...

Mahlomola Martin Lefupana  Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns are the only clubs in South Africa to have more than 1 million followers on social media. The three clubs are also in the top ten of Africa’s social media ranking, with Chiefs ranked fourth with more than 4.9 million, Pirates 5 th with 3.6 million and Sundowns ranked 9 th with 1.4 million followers. Whilst the PSL dominates the continent in terms of money league, the social media rankings are led by the North African clubs with Al Ahly Sports Club with more than 20 million followers, followed by Zamalek Sports Club with more than 10 million following and Raja Club Athletic with more than 5.1 million. The top ranking Chiefs, Pirates and Sundowns in Africa’s social media ranking is not a surprise given their status in the continent, especially in the Southern Africa region. The clubs are regarded as the “Big Three” and have dominated South Africa football for the last 40 years and have e...

By Mahlomola Martin Lefupana   Sports, particularly football, has acquired the biggest currency in culture, politics, commercialization, marketing and entertainment in South Africa. The sports of football has in the last ten years or so cemented its status as the biggest commodity in South Africa in terms of participation, TV reach and revenue generation.       In the recent past, the idea of expanding Premier Soccer League (PSL) to have more teams has been widely discussed by football fans, pundits and media. The discussion around the expansion is always met with mixed reaction. Many have argued that with more than 57 million people in South Africa, the growth of PSL in the last ten years, the need for development and growth of the game, the idea of expansion from the existing sixteen in both the PSL and National First Division (NFD) is long overdue.   While the concept seem exciting on paper, there are real questions that needs to be asked: why the need...