Al Khaldiya midfielder Patrick ‘Tito’ Maswanganyi has urged South African fans to take it easy on young players in terms of how they react to players’ mistakes, citing the examples of Mfundo Vilakazi and Mduduzi Shabalala.
Maswanganyi, 28, moved to the Bahraini Premier League this season from Orlando Pirates – a move he told a South African Football Journalists Association (SAFJA) online press conference that it was motivated by him needing peace from the backlash of fans on social media.
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Tito says he’s been impressed by how youngsters have stepped at their respective clubs but notes that they aren’t always protected enough to handle some of the criticism from fans.
He referenced the Carling Knockout Cup quarter-final match between Kaizer Chiefs and Siwelele FC at the Peter Mokaba Stadium this past weekend where Mduduzi Shabalala missed a penalty. He says he watched how the fans wanted the midfielder subbed but he went on create another goal scoring opportunity for the second penalty.
“My thing is for the fans to take it easy, especially on young players that are coming in,” said Tito.
“Sometimes you see say Mfundo Vilakazi playing, trying his best and not doing well in the game, and then you see like lots of fans speaking bad about a player that’s very young for the team that they support.
“And it’s not really good because that player is someone that still needs to grow. I think there’s also like senior players in the team who would take it better than the younger players.
“I watched the Kaizer Chiefs [vs Siwelele] and I saw Mdu miss a penalty. And I watched the fans signal for him to go out. Minutes later, he creates another penalty for the team, the team gets back into the game.
“Just imagine if they would have taken him out at that time. Probably they will never got even a goal. They would have lost the game.”
‘We need to protect our young players’
Maswanganyi added that more than anything youngsters should be protected as they are the future of South African football.
“But for me, it’s for the fans to take it easy on the younger players. The more they encourage them, is the more they will do for the team. And we need these players, to grow better, to improve because these are our future, they’re going to go to the Bafana Bafana team.
“So we need to protect them, we need to show them love, and we need to appreciate them. Somewhere outside the country, they show lots of love for young players, but in South Africa, it’s very difficult to show love to those players.
“But you don’t understand how those players feel because these players are young and these are the players that can change South African football when they have to compete in the World Cups, the AFCONS. These are the type of players that can win us trophies as a nation.”