Castle Lager and Bafana Bafana mark 30 years of football partnership
Bafana Bafana and Castle Lager celebrate 30 years of international football after South Africa's re-admittance with a friendly match against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon on July 7 1992 in Durban which Bafana won 1-0 through a Doctor Khumalo penalty.
Bafana Bafana and Castle Lager has marked 30 years as a team that created an iconic partnership to shepherd South Africa into international football.
It was on July 7, 1992, that the first South African national team proudly took to the field after decades of apartheid-enforced isolation to take their place in international football. This began a journey that has seen the country host the 2010 Fifa World Cup, qualify for two World Cups in 1998 and 2002, and be crowned African champions in 1996.
That first match on a rainy day in Durban was against Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions and came just four days after Fifa had reinstated South Africa’s membership in world football’s governing body, giving hope to millions of young men and women seeking to follow their dreams of becoming professional footballers.
Castle Lager was there from the start, sponsoring a three-match tour that saw Cameroon travel to South Africa to celebrate the breaking of the isolation shackles. “We are incredibly proud to have been there at the birth of Bafana Bafana and to have played our part in heralding a new era for South African sport.
Photo: Gallo Images
“Castle Lager has been there with Bafana through all of their highs and lows, including winning the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations and playing at three World Cups, and we shared the excitement of the nation as the team made those first tentative steps into the international fold,” Wendy Bedforth, Castle Lager brand director told Alex News.
Three decades on, Bedforth said they remained steadfastly behind Bafana Bafana and continued to contribute to the growth and development of the game in South Africa.
The first-ever Bafana Bafana international was won via a Doctor Khumalo penalty against many of the Cameroon players who had starred in the 1990 Fifa World Cup in Italy two years before, including veteran forward Roger Milla.
The tour continued in Cape Town two days later where the visitors won 2–1 before the teams played to a 2–2 draw in Johannesburg in a finale to the whirlwind visit that had given local fans a taste of international football against a top-quality side.
The first ever match was won by a Khumalo 82-minute penalty at King’s Park rugby stadium in Durban with the line-up of Mark Anderson, David Nyathi, Lucas Radebe, Steve Komphela,
Sam Kambule, Zane Moosa (August Makalakalane 51’), Donald Khuse, captain Neil Tovey, Doctor Khumalo, Fani Madida, Phil Masinga, and coach Stanley ‘Screamer’ Tshabalala.
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