Endangered Birds

There are few teams that you can never leave out when talking about South African soccer history. Moroka Swallows is one of them, unless you are one of those who think South African football was built by three teams.

Some of the people who were involved in Swallows development back in 2013 when they were based in Germiston

Growing up, Sisa Nombe and Sibusiso Mazibuko represented my first interpretation of what “terrible twins” were. Their combination would give defenders sleepless nights. Samuel Ngobeni, Asande Ngobese were one of the most skillful players we had in the country at that time and expressed the way we felt South African football should be played, authentic Kasi football, idiski.

Some of the players who were part of the development in 2013

Moroka Swallows have always had a rich history in South African soccer history, when you consider the legends they have brought us like “the bull” Lehoko, “Sporo” Mangena, “Chaka-Chaka” Mpondo and “Ace” Mnini to mention a few it was really heartbreaking when I received the news they had were now in the third tier league after a dismal performance during the course of the NFD season.

The slow death of this club means we lose another part of soccer history to the archives and old men’s tales.

Their relegation to the Vodacom League mirrors the decline of African Wanderers (another club lost to the archives of South African football history)

They have gone down and the management (you know who you are) have abandoned ship that they contributed in its sinking.

Let’s hope that one day the sleeping giants will awaken so that when we tell our children’s children about the beautiful game we love, our history does not start in 1996.