Despite being the most popular sport in South Africa, Bafana Bafana struggles to garner the same level of support as the Springboks and Proteas, even as they prepare for the FIFA World Cup, due to decades of mediocrity and a lack of home crowd enthusiasm. Picture: Phil Magakoe
Image: Phil Magakoe
As South Africa prepares to take on Mexico in the opening game of the FIFA World Cup on Thursday, it’s worth noting that soccer is the most popular sport in the Rainbow Nation, yet Bafana Bafana seems to be the least well-supported side of the big three sports in the country.
Ask your co-worker or family friend what they think of Bafana’s chances at this World Cup and you will invariably receive some form of pessimistic response.
Backing the Springboks is both an institution and almost a religion in South Africa. Their four Rugby World Cup titles and countless other trophies make supporting them an easy sell.
For the Proteas, it’s a bit more tricky as they are yet to achieve World Cup success in limited overs. They, of course, won the World Test Championship in 2025, and even when they disappoint in big events like the T20 World Cup where they crashed out at the semi-final stage earlier this year, they were the talk of the town before and after that match.
Bafana certainly have the ability to grab headlines, especially when they underperform like they did at the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year, but it’s a fact that when they play at home, they often battle to get in big crowds to their matches.
Even in a FIFA World Cup year, people just don’t flock to see Bafana. It’s one thing to do a whole lot of grandstanding on social media, but people simply don’t come out in their numbers to see the national soccer team.
Why that is is difficult to explain. Perhaps it’s down to the decades of mediocrity that Bafana have produced. After all, the last time they actually qualified for a FIFA World Cup was in the 2002 edition (they gained automatic entry as hosts in 2010).
Even if Bafana were to pull off a massive shock at the FIFA World Cup and progress beyond the group stage, it’s still unlikely they will command major support back home like anything in the same ballpark as the Springboks or Proteas.
And that’s a shame.
* The views expressed are not necessarily the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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