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A celebration picture of Bloemfontein Celtic players adorned the front page of a supplement of the City Press edition of December 1 1985.
Titled “Glorious”, the Mainstay Cup final supplement paid homage to Phunya Sele Sele’s triumph over African Wanderers in the now defunct competition.
It was the crowning glory to a stunning year, echoed the sub-headline just above the big image of Eden Katango and his teammates celebrating Ishmael Mokitlane’s winning goal.
The late Celtic owner, Ntate Petrus Molemela, completed the layout as the anchor of the cover page titled: “Next stop? The gig!”
Then the implosion began and now the question remains: Just how did Celtic fall so far, so quickly?
Even the few who have been turning up at the team’s home matches have suddenly turned against the Free State giant as they disrupted a league game last weekend.
Phunya Sele Sele risks tipping into possible oblivion, much like fallen Soweto powerhouse Moroka Swallows, if the tradition-steeped outfit is not rescued.
Like Swallows, Celtic’s financial crisis is the actual reason why a great club has been brought so low despite good performances on the field.
The signs of the times are the recurring spectator riots protesting the turn of events in the on-and-off sale of Celtic by owner Max Tshabalala.
Last weekend, irate club supporters demonstrated their anger again by disrupting the team’s Absa Premiership game against Cape Town City at the Dr Molemela Stadium, prompting it to be called off.
Celtic is now in trouble with the PSL as the club has been hauled before the league’s disciplinary committee on charges of failure to provide adequate security, as well as for bringing the league and sponsors into disrepute.
The latest spectator rampage comes almost a year after riots broke out in Rocklands township when reports emerged that Celtic had been sold to an unnamed Northern Cape businessman for R60 million.
Fans took to the streets, burnt tyres and blockaded roads in protest but the club management assured its faithfuls that the reports were false.
Still, uncertainty remains as the tradition-steeped club is still up for sale while they also have a pending disciplinary matter over the “ownership problem”.
“The ownership problem is still outstanding and the league is waiting for the directive to proceed with the matter. It’s complicated,” PSL prosecutor Nande Becker told City Press on Friday.
In a media interview in August, Tshabalala said a consortium, led by Free State-based business person Sinki Leshabane, had taken over while negotiations were ongoing.
This arrangement collapsed because the potential buyers could not obtain suitable answers on various aspects of the complicated ownership structure of Celtic‚ which is apparently registered as two companies and has three principle investors.
Becker, meanwhile, added that the latest charge of spectator misdemeanour was an urgent matter and Celtic will appear before the PSL tribunal on Thursday, a day after its league game against Polokwane City at Peter Mokaba Stadium.
Celtic will return to the Limpopo venue on Saturday to host Kaizer Chiefs there as it has requested to stage its remaining two home league fixtures Z against Chiefs on Saturday and AmaZulu on May 11 Z at neutral venues to avoid possible disruptions.
“They’ve got security concerns and they have applied to play in Polokwane and East London,” PSL spokesperson Lux September told City Press, adding that the PSL also needed to be reasonable by acceding to Celtic’s request.
This is a sad state of affairs for a club that challenged Chiefs and Orlando Pirates in the ranks of SA’s most followed clubs.
Even at its lowest ebb, Phunya Sele Sele would draw capacity crowds at home but the club has suffered a series of fan boycotts this season.
Celtic’s national supporters chairperson Mabena Pule has accused the club’s management of a lack of transparency.
Tshabalala refused to comment but the club’s chief executive, Khumbulani Konco, said Pule declined to meet the club’s hierarchy over their grievances.
“The chairman of the supporters refused to meet us on Wednesday and it’s the second time they have done this,” argued Konco.
Pule hit back: “They wrote us a letter on the same day of the meeting ... we declined on the basis that the situation was not normal after Sunday’s fan troubles.”
He went on to accuse Tshabalala of “not making efforts to get Celtic sold”.
Mabena said another matter at the heart of the tensions between the club and the supporters was that Celtic refused to acknowledge some of the claims made by former coach Steve Komphela in a resignation letter that was leaked after the trainer left for Arrows.
What’s next?
Mabena said they were expecting a provincial government task team to call them for a meeting in the coming week as this body has been serving as the link between the supporters and the club.
