You know the scene even if you were not in it. A Saturday morning, a queue for vetkoek, and two people in two different jerseys who have not said a word to each other yet. One of them is smiling far too early in the day. The other is staring at his phone as if it owes him money. Nobody needs to explain. Friday night already did.
That is the Soweto derby week mood, and this year it arrived a day early. Kaizer Chiefs went out of the CAF Confederation Cup on penalties in Durban. Orlando Pirates swept into the CAF Champions League group stage in Soweto. Seven days from now the two of them meet at FNB Stadium, and the talking has already started.
The Soweto derby week mood, explained
Most rivalries are an afternoon. This one is a week-long conversation with a match at the end of it.
South African Tourism’s own guide to the fixture says the streets of Soweto and the townships are abuzz before Chiefs and Pirates meet, and that the buzz reaches as far as Gugulethu in Cape Town. Both clubs, it points out, have supporters all over the country. Goal’s history of the rivalry adds the detail every derby regular recognises: fans of both clubs sitting together and travelling to games together, households split down the middle, makarapa helmets and vuvuzelas, the skull and crossbones beside the black and gold.
That is the normal rhythm. Two camps, one township, a week of noise and then 90 minutes that decide who gets to talk loudest until the next one.
What makes this week different is that Friday rewrote the script before the week even began. Usually both sets of supporters walk into derby week with nothing but league form to argue about. This time one camp arrives with continental news to show off, and the other arrives with something to prove. There is not even a quiet midweek to settle the nerves. The PSL fixture list has both clubs back in action on Tuesday evening, 27 October, kicking off at 19:00 in the knockout cup’s round of 16: Pirates host Milford FC at Orlando Stadium, and Chiefs take on TS Galaxy at FNB Stadium. Then Saturday.
Two camps, one sold-out week
Start with the gold side of the family. Goal’s round-up of public reaction from Chiefs supporters on Friday night read angry and divided. Some wanted change on the bench; others defended Fernando Da Cruz and blamed the chances that went begging. Several had already moved on to the arithmetic of the week ahead, worried about the starting XI for TS Galaxy and for the derby. Our report on the Chiefs result has the night itself, and the goal drought behind it is no new complaint: we counted it back in mid-October.
Last week we wrote that one heavy Test defeat turns the whole country into cricket selectors. Football works faster. By Saturday breakfast, every Chiefs supporter with a phone has a new back four, a new penalty order and a firm view on who should never take one again.
Across the road, the mood could hardly be more different. Goal’s collection of Pirates reaction was confident to the point of cheek: supporters already dreaming of a long Champions League run, admiring the new faces in the team, and enjoying the chance to tease their neighbours. Our report on the Pirates result has the goals, and our Orlando Pirates page has the club’s story. The Buccaneers’ supporters will tell you the rest themselves, at length, all week.
Then there is the third camp, the one nobody chooses to join: everybody without a ticket. Kaizer Chiefs said on 16 October that the derby is completely sold out, that no tickets will be sold at the stadium, and that fans should watch out for fake tickets on the resale market. TimesLIVE reported that 63,680 tickets went on sale to the public and were gone within a day. MDNtv described virtual queues running into the tens of thousands within minutes and sales of more than 560 tickets a minute, with some supporters celebrating their seats and others left out by glitches or by joining the queue too late.
So the week has its cast. The happy ones, the hurting ones, and the ones insisting they never wanted to go anyway because the couch has better replays.
Why it matters
It would be easy to call all of this noise. It is not. Derby week is where South African football does its feeling out loud.
For Chiefs supporters, Friday turned the domestic season into the whole season, and Saturday is the fastest way to change the story. For Pirates supporters, a group-stage place brings its own nerves: nobody wants to be the team that flew in Africa and then slipped at home. A derby does not care about either narrative, which is exactly why both camps will spend seven days building one.
There is warmth underneath it too. South African Tourism talks about the camaraderie between supporters that marks these matches, and Goal describes rival fans who now share stands and lifts. The banter is fierce because the bond is real. You only tease the people you will be sitting next to on Saturday.
Saturday, 15:30
The PSL’s season calendar has the derby on Saturday 31 October, and Kaizer Chiefs’ ticket notice gives kick-off as 15:30 at FNB Stadium. Between now and then there is a cup tie each, a lot of radio, and a great deal of advice offered to coaches who did not ask for it.
So be gentle with the person in the vetkoek queue wearing gold this morning. He has had a long night. By next Saturday, one way or another, everybody else will have had one too.