Premier League so popular you'd think you were in UK'
Thu 27 Mar 2014
Supersport presenter Robert Marawa says South Africans are lapping up this season's title race
This season is shaping up to be the most exciting title race for a long time in the Barclays Premier League and that anticipation is spread throughout the world, with no country more enthralled than South Africa, according to SuperSport presenter Robert Marawa.
Marawa, the face of Barclays Premier League football coverage for South African football channel SuperSport, says that the popularity of the Barclays Premier League is "immense" in South Africa and the newspaper coverage is so all-consuming that "you would think you were in the UK" with the latest twists and turns of an eventful season gripping the nation.
"Liverpool supporters have started coming out of the woodwork"
Robert Marawa
"It's the first time in a long time I have seen such long faces on Manchester United supporters, and Liverpool supporters have started coming out of the woodwork, wearing the jerseys after so many barren years," Marawa told premierleague.com. "They have a renewed sense of hope.
"You just don't know what's going to happen. Arsenal, having started so well this season, seem to be losing the plot a little bit, and you've got a guy with the reputation of winning trophies like Jose Mourinho, with the squad that wouldn't have been given much of a chance at the start of this season, leading the way in what was supposed to be a season's work in progress.
"But City have been able to afford to bring in the superstars and they have two matches in hand, so it could change at the weekend. With United not dominating people are loving what's going on. You've even got a surprise package in Everton, who might just get into a UEFA Champions League position."
So what is it about the Premier League that strikes a chord with South Africans, and which had enabled SuperSport to enjoy one of the Premier League's longest-standing overseas TV partnership deal, since the 1990s?
African players boost popularity
"There is just a certain aura that the Barclays Premier League brings, that is a complete package, something that we can't have here," he said. "We probably have something similar as a one-off when the traditional rivalry of Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Pirates get to play each other but we don't have a continuous wave of football intensity on a weekly, sometimes twice-weekly basis. People love the game and the excitement that it brings.
"That we just don't know which way the Barclays Premier League will go makes it compelling. And who's to say Man City don't win it in the very last minute of the very last day of the season like they did in 2011/12? There's that drama, excitement, unpredictability. All of those components put together will make it a very good finish.
"The entire package really appeals to South Afircans, where you have got full stadia and superstars. Even when David Beckham or Cristiano Ronaldo were playing all of those different waves of players brought something into the game. From a South African perspective when Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel come through at Chelsea there was an even bigger following than before, not just from Chelsea supporters, but all those people who have an interest in following an African story. We have Steven Pienaar at Everton, and we had Benni McCarthy and Quinton Fortune before him."
Some of the African players to have graced the Barclays Premier League will be joining Marawa at Barclays Premier League Live this weekend at Zoo Lake Sports Club, Johannesburg. BPL Live is a free-to-enter fan park where five matches from the Barclays Premier League over Saturday and Sunday will be televised live on a jumbotron screen. Marcel Desailly, who was born in Ghana, Lucas Radebe, Mark Fish, both of South Africa, and Zimbabwe’s Benjani Mwaruwari, as well Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler, will attend the event. Visitors will be able to get involved in a variety of other interactive experiences on site, including football skills games, coaching sessions with the former players and the chance to have their photo taken with the Barclays Premier League trophy.
Toure star of the season
It is another African whom Marawa regards as being the outstanding individual in the Barclays Premier League this season. Manchester City's Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure scored his 17th Barclays Premier League goal of the season on Wednesday night as City stepped up their push to reclaim the title they relinquished to Manchester United last term, with an emphatic 3-0 derby triumph that moved them to within three points of leaders Chelsea. Marawa believes Toure has been the leading individual light, not just for his club, but for the tournament as a whole this season.
"He's still the same Yaya but the difference is he's scoring goals"
Robert Marawa
"I felt was a bit strange was when FIFA announced their team of the year and they didn't have the name of Yaya Toure in XI," Marawa said. "He is three times African Footballer of the Year and he's scored 21 goals in all competitions from a midfield position so far this season. Sergio Aguero has been phenomenal but has had his injury problems, and [Alvaro] Negredo's had his moments, but I would say that he has been the difference for Man City. He's lost a lot of weight, he's more mobile, he's still the same Yaya but the difference is he's scoring goals."
The host of Thursday Night with Marawa for SuperSport and Metro FM's 083 Sports@6, the most popular radio show on the African continent, has also been impressed by the displays of Everton striker Romelu Lukaku, Chelsea's Eden Hazard, but reserves a special mention for Liverpool’s partnership of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, who on Wednesday night against Sunderland became only the third pair in the history of the Barclay Premier League to scored 20+ goals each in a single season (after Newcastle United’s Andy Cole and Peter Beardsley in 1993/94 and Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard in 2009/10).
"Suarez and Sturridge scoring more goals together than 15 other teams lead the pack," Marawa said. "That Liverpool pairing is unquestionably the stand-out partnership, purely for what they continue to do. It's not a one-off thing, either, the two of them have come to understand each other very well indeed, and dovetail to devastating effect."
Thu 27 Mar 2014
Supersport presenter Robert Marawa says South Africans are lapping up this season's title race
This season is shaping up to be the most exciting title race for a long time in the Barclays Premier League and that anticipation is spread throughout the world, with no country more enthralled than South Africa, according to SuperSport presenter Robert Marawa.
Marawa, the face of Barclays Premier League football coverage for South African football channel SuperSport, says that the popularity of the Barclays Premier League is "immense" in South Africa and the newspaper coverage is so all-consuming that "you would think you were in the UK" with the latest twists and turns of an eventful season gripping the nation.
"Liverpool supporters have started coming out of the woodwork"
Robert Marawa
"It's the first time in a long time I have seen such long faces on Manchester United supporters, and Liverpool supporters have started coming out of the woodwork, wearing the jerseys after so many barren years," Marawa told premierleague.com. "They have a renewed sense of hope.
"You just don't know what's going to happen. Arsenal, having started so well this season, seem to be losing the plot a little bit, and you've got a guy with the reputation of winning trophies like Jose Mourinho, with the squad that wouldn't have been given much of a chance at the start of this season, leading the way in what was supposed to be a season's work in progress.
"But City have been able to afford to bring in the superstars and they have two matches in hand, so it could change at the weekend. With United not dominating people are loving what's going on. You've even got a surprise package in Everton, who might just get into a UEFA Champions League position."
So what is it about the Premier League that strikes a chord with South Africans, and which had enabled SuperSport to enjoy one of the Premier League's longest-standing overseas TV partnership deal, since the 1990s?
African players boost popularity
"There is just a certain aura that the Barclays Premier League brings, that is a complete package, something that we can't have here," he said. "We probably have something similar as a one-off when the traditional rivalry of Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Pirates get to play each other but we don't have a continuous wave of football intensity on a weekly, sometimes twice-weekly basis. People love the game and the excitement that it brings.
"That we just don't know which way the Barclays Premier League will go makes it compelling. And who's to say Man City don't win it in the very last minute of the very last day of the season like they did in 2011/12? There's that drama, excitement, unpredictability. All of those components put together will make it a very good finish.
"The entire package really appeals to South Afircans, where you have got full stadia and superstars. Even when David Beckham or Cristiano Ronaldo were playing all of those different waves of players brought something into the game. From a South African perspective when Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, John Obi Mikel come through at Chelsea there was an even bigger following than before, not just from Chelsea supporters, but all those people who have an interest in following an African story. We have Steven Pienaar at Everton, and we had Benni McCarthy and Quinton Fortune before him."
Some of the African players to have graced the Barclays Premier League will be joining Marawa at Barclays Premier League Live this weekend at Zoo Lake Sports Club, Johannesburg. BPL Live is a free-to-enter fan park where five matches from the Barclays Premier League over Saturday and Sunday will be televised live on a jumbotron screen. Marcel Desailly, who was born in Ghana, Lucas Radebe, Mark Fish, both of South Africa, and Zimbabwe’s Benjani Mwaruwari, as well Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler, will attend the event. Visitors will be able to get involved in a variety of other interactive experiences on site, including football skills games, coaching sessions with the former players and the chance to have their photo taken with the Barclays Premier League trophy.
Toure star of the season
It is another African whom Marawa regards as being the outstanding individual in the Barclays Premier League this season. Manchester City's Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure scored his 17th Barclays Premier League goal of the season on Wednesday night as City stepped up their push to reclaim the title they relinquished to Manchester United last term, with an emphatic 3-0 derby triumph that moved them to within three points of leaders Chelsea. Marawa believes Toure has been the leading individual light, not just for his club, but for the tournament as a whole this season.
"He's still the same Yaya but the difference is he's scoring goals"
Robert Marawa
"I felt was a bit strange was when FIFA announced their team of the year and they didn't have the name of Yaya Toure in XI," Marawa said. "He is three times African Footballer of the Year and he's scored 21 goals in all competitions from a midfield position so far this season. Sergio Aguero has been phenomenal but has had his injury problems, and [Alvaro] Negredo's had his moments, but I would say that he has been the difference for Man City. He's lost a lot of weight, he's more mobile, he's still the same Yaya but the difference is he's scoring goals."
The host of Thursday Night with Marawa for SuperSport and Metro FM's 083 Sports@6, the most popular radio show on the African continent, has also been impressed by the displays of Everton striker Romelu Lukaku, Chelsea's Eden Hazard, but reserves a special mention for Liverpool’s partnership of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge, who on Wednesday night against Sunderland became only the third pair in the history of the Barclay Premier League to scored 20+ goals each in a single season (after Newcastle United’s Andy Cole and Peter Beardsley in 1993/94 and Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard in 2009/10).
"Suarez and Sturridge scoring more goals together than 15 other teams lead the pack," Marawa said. "That Liverpool pairing is unquestionably the stand-out partnership, purely for what they continue to do. It's not a one-off thing, either, the two of them have come to understand each other very well indeed, and dovetail to devastating effect."
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