Black Label Cup roars back
Calistus Kolantsho | Friday May 28, 2021 16:19
On Tuesday, South Africa announced the return of the popular Carling Black Label Cup, after one year’s absence due to COVID-19. Yours truly attended the launch of the Carling Black Label Cup at Focus Rooms in Sandton.
The match between South Africa’s most supported teams, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, would be played at FNB Stadium on July 31, 2021, without spectators.
The 2021 cup edition ambassador is multiple CAF Player of the Year award winner, Samuel Eto’o. Speaking during the launch, Eto’o said he was happy that it is only proper for fans to be the ones choosing the starting line-up for their teams.
The much-anticipated game between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates was cancelled last year due to the pandemic. The competition was started in 2011 to create a fan-focused football fixture.
The pre-season cup competition was introduced to give fans unprecedented power and influence over the highly contested Soweto Derby, providing fans with the opportunity to select a starting line-up of their choice.
Launching the cup, Carling Black Label brand director, Arné Rust said just like in all the past games, they are putting the power in the hands of Champion fans.
“Supporters of Chief and Pirates would select their starting line-ups as well as new and exciting game-changers, which would certainly amplify their matchday experience.
What would really set this year’s cup apart from the previous years is that fans would have access to all game-changers, giving fans even more power and control of the game,” he said.
Rust explained that in addition to selecting the starting line-ups, fans could select the formation they would like the team to play in, their preferred captain, penalty takers, substitutes as well as the man of the match. He said to further elevate the fan experience, Champions fans would now have access to player performance statistics, date and insights on the two clubs, made available on the Carling Black Label cup website.
“With this kind of knowledge, the brand believes fans would make more informed decisions when selecting their preferred matchday squads essentially empowering every one of them to be the coach,” he said.
Pirates have clinched the cup five times (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2019) while Chiefs were champions in 2013, 2016 and 2017. Pirates coach, Josef Zinnbauer who will be making his debut in the competition said fans always have ideas during matches so now it is their opportunity to implement them through formations, substitutes and penalty takers.
However, Zinnbauer said the game is important as it is played a week before the beginning of the new season. For his part, Chiefs coach, Gavin Hunt said having fans in charge is exciting but cautioned that if Chiefs is beaten it all goes back to him.
Meanwhile, Hunt said whoever wins as the champion coach might get more opportunities. He said there is need to train and license more coaches.
“The game is played closer to the new season. That means players would be on a better level. It is a pre-season friendly but it could be like that. The game should be played with the right spirit,” Hunt said. Speaking during the launch, Chiefs striker, Bernard Parker said it has been difficult to play without spectators.
He said the 12th player always pushes them and they miss the fans. However, Parker said they are professionals and have to do the job. Pirates captain, Happy Jele also shared the same sentiments as Parker adding that fans motivate them in every game.
He said it is strange to go to the stadium and there are no fans. Meanwhile, South Africa has fully utilised the use of technology during the pandemic. The country has introduced a computerised system for monitoring the spread of the virus through a smartphone app. The app notifies you if you have been close to someone who reported having COVID-19.
There is also a website where one is issued with a code every day, which is used to access events. While South Africa has rolled ahead, back home in Botswana notebooks are still used as registers and in some cases, the public shares pens.