The Betway Premiership trophy is completed, according to the designer of the ‘soon to be unveiled’ silver, Nelson Makamo.
With the 2024/25 season coming closer to the finale, and Mamelodi Sundowns favourites for the title, the most-asked question since the new sponsor has come on board this season, has been, where is the trophy?
Well, it’s now confirmed to have been completed by Makamo, with the league likely to unveil it within the next few weeks and Makamo shed some insight at the Soweto Derby press conference about the journey.
“It hasn’t been as easy as one can imagine, football it’s a symbol of our culture and as I said, my mom was asking me why did I agree? I’ve always done, as an artist, probably what has made my career, is projects that’s not easy and requires responsbility,” he said.
“It represents the country, I’ve done international projects but this was personal and something as growing up as a football lover, in a family of football lovers, many young black South Africans, as a grew up in a black community, it’s the only sport we knew and was present as far as I can remember.
“But it was never common for an artist to look at sport, and find inspiration from sport, looking what it’s done – I think it was something I felt great to be part of, I feel it’s an achievement that will complete me.
“Football is broad, so to think of this trophy, there’s been many designed, but to think of something that is us was a challenge I needed.”
Makamo, who is one of the most celebrated artists in the country who’s known for telling African stories and amllying voices of African children in his work, said the process of design needed to be kept off social media for the sake of interference.
“The trophy is done, I know there’s been questions, probably the most unkind question on social media, there’s a reason why the process had to be off social media, when you designing something, you don’t want to have interference and noise, there’s people who know it all in football, same as politics,” he explained.
“When you take the responsbility, the discipline to understand there will be these questions that come out but like any other artist, we create work, and when it’s done you invite for exhibitions to show the creation, you don’t often invite during the process of creation.
“Noise can interfere the creation and it was one of the things not easty to deal with, I know a lot of time people threw questions, I had to block them becuse my social pages was not used as a platform to promote what we’re working. We agreed to put things off until the official day we unveil it.”
