Too many chiefs and not enough Indians

THEY were as scarce as minibus taxi drivers who use indicators.

- YOGIN DEVAN

THEY were as scarce as minibus taxi drivers who use indicators. There were hardly enough of them to form a WhatsApp group chat. In fact, I've seen more of them waiting in line for a free tasting of spicy Nagiah's sausages on a Saturday morning. Who am I talking about? I'm referring to the number of Indians who actually attended South Africa's premier club soccer knockout tournament for the fiercely-contested Nedbank Cup at Durban's Moses Mabhida Stadium a fortnight ago.

The riveting match saw Kaizer Chiefs ending a painful 10-year trophy drought when it clinched a 2-1 victory over Orlando Pirates.

And only a handful of Indians were among the 60 000 spectators. One 12-pack of Amstel would have been more than sufficient to keep the spirits up of the sum total of charou football fans who made the effort to attend the Soweto Derby where they were inconspicuous as a drop of water in the ocean or like needles in a haystack.

Meanwhile, at the same time, thousands of South African Indians, a spiritous drink in hand, would have been watching Southampton vs Man City, Fulham vs Everton or Ipswich Town vs Brentford on television at home, at Clive Pillay's 501 Sports Bar in Chatsworth, or at T's Action Bar in Phoenix.

Now what is it that induces local Indians to support English Premier League football, or even European soccer for that matter, more than they do South African Premier Soccer League (PSL) matches? Local Indian football fans can rattle off the names of all the Liverpool and Manchester United players - and the reserve squads.

They have at their fingertips all personal information about European footballers, including age, nationality, contract duration and market value, and I won't be surprised, even their partners' names.

Yet most of them will not be able to recite volubly the names of more than two or three players with individual PSL teams, or even Bafana Bafana to boot (pun unintended).