Football fans will be able to attend the match between Bafana Bafana and Ethiopia today, but rugby fans will have to wait until next year to watch the sport at stadiums.
Regulations permitting vaccinated football fans to watch the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Ethiopia were amended yesterday by co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
No more than 2 000 supporters, who have had their Covid-19 jabs, will be allowed to attend the match at the FNB Stadium when Bafana host the east Africans in a return match in order to qualify for the quadrennial soccer spectacle to be hosted in Qatar next year.
Indications are that rugby supporters will have to wait another three months before they will be allowed to attend games live.
The last time a crowd attended a domestic match was in March 2020 when the Sharks beat the Stormers in Durban, which was also the last time there was South African participation in Super Rugby.
‘We hear it will be from early next year only. Seems like it will be a percentage of capacity,’ a senior SA Rugby official said on Saturday.
‘There is a rumour vaccinated fans will be allowed back – 2 000 immediately, then 15 percent in November, 30 percent in December and 50 percent in January. This however is yet to be confirmed,’ the official cautioned.
Graeme Smith, the director of cricket at Cricket South Africa, has also expressed his hope that cricket fans will be allowed to attend matches when India tours here later this year.
Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay