On Tuesday, Orlando Pirates legend Lucky Lekgwathi weighed in on the growing trend of jeering players following an incident during a recent match between the Buccaneers and Golden Arrows in Orlando.
During the fixture, a section of Bucs’ fans booed and hissed at Terrence Dvzukamanja as he was introduced in the second half for Deon Hotto. The striker was evidently upset and showed it by not celebrating his goal after netting one of the strikes in the 3-1 victory.
In response to the incident, Pirates coach Jose Riveiro encouraged the club’s supporters to refrain from such actions towards the players. Lekgwathi, who was at the stadium for the match, shared his advice on how the players should handle supporters who turn their backs against their own stars.
“Watching the game, I sometimes wish I was still playing so that I could share some advice with the players. Being in a team environment is something special, which I always enjoyed. You know what, this is where I would come in as a player. As a coach, you don’t do that to the supporters because it is going to backfire. As a player, you don’t react that way. You just forget about their boos and focus on doing your job. We play for the supporters,” he said.
Lekgwathi believes that the ‘Boo Boys’ should be discouraged from such behaviour during branch meetings and launches, but stressed that players should not fight against the supporters. “You won’t win a battle against the supporters, so it is best not to even start it. Those are just some of the things I miss about the game,” the former Pirates captain added.
