Moroka Swallows supporters are still devasted following the demise of the club. Swallows, one of the oldest professional football clubs in South Africa, will cease to exist after its sale.
The Premier Soccer League status of Swallows has been bought by Marumo Gallants, a club currently campaigning in the National First Division.
Supporters of Swallows are still trying to come to terms with the sad news.
The club, which was formed 77 years ago, has a very rich history. New owners Marumo Gallants confirmed their purchase of Swallows’ status. To make matters worse, the club founded in 1947 in Dube, Soweto, will not remain in Gauteng but is relocating to the Free State.
Swallows’ number one supporter Mandla Sibeko is devastated.
“We’ve been hearing this for the past month or so. It’s been hurting us, we are dead, we thought this was just a rumour, it won’t happen. Yes, we know teams do fall, like we went down, and we came back. You know we from the Motsepe League with Panyaza and everybody. I was the last fan standing to bring this team back with others including Jeff. This team has killed a lot of people. Then this news after struggling and came back.”
The problems of the club were long coming. The team didn’t have a sponsor since returning to the PSL. The financial difficulties forced Swallows to release 22 players in January this year, following a pay dispute.
Sibeko lashed out the team’s management.
“We can’t take this you know, it’s very sad, it’s painful. This is like somebody has killed us. I don’t know why these chairmen are doing this. This is very bad; they take us for granted, this is very bad to be honest. We hope this is just a joke,”
The first signs of trouble started when the Birds first got relegated from the PSL nine years ago. They were relegated further down to the third tier of South African football. They staged a comeback and gained promotion to the Premier League at the end of the 2019/2020 season, but the problems persisted. Despite all the hardships, supporters stood with the club.
“Our team is going, we did not have good management, they didn’t know why they were here and what they are doing. Since we started supporting Swallows, we’ve never seen the club relegated under these people,” a supporter says.
“Why is it being sold, why is it not bought by someone from Gauteng, or at least somebody from Soweto at least. We’ve got a lot of tycoons in Soweto, now the club has been sold and I heard it’s going to be based in Bloemfontein,” another supporter explains.
A loss for Swallows fans is a gain for the Free State Province. Bloemfontein Celtic fans are elated that top-flight football is coming back to their province following the sale of Bloemfontein Celtic several years ago.
Fans in Bloemfontein recently showed their extreme love for the sport when they filled the Free State Stadium to the rafters in a FIFA World Cup qualifier between Bafana Bafana and neighbours Zimbabwe.
“I’m very excited and over the moon because now we are going to be having a team in Bloemfontein that we will be able to go and support and rally behind whenever there are games. But we are very sorry about what happened to Swallows because it is the pain that we’ve been through previously because that was the reason, we did not have a team in Bloemfontein,” says Station Gaboinewe, Bloemfontein Celtic supporter.
“As a Celtic supporter thank you very much, we are on our knees. Bra Solly welcome home, we were in trouble not knowing what to do. I think you realized that in Bloemfontein we need professional football,” says Pops Mariti, another Bloemfontein Celtic supporter.
Swallows’ supporters hope their beloved club can be resurrected one day.
