Bafana Defender Opens Up On ‘Mlungu’ Chants

Moroka Swallows defender Keegan Allan is enjoying every moment of South African fans chanting ‘mlungu’ whenever he touches the ball in the COSAFA Cup in Durban.

‘Mlungu’ can be heard as part of cheering when Allan touches the ball because he is one of two players in the national team who are white, but it does not have a racist connotation.

Former Bafana defender Matthew Booth was the one who was cheered with plenty of ‘Booooooth’ whenever he had the ball, whether at club level or with the national team, even now since he retired when he plays social games.

Mark Fish was the first, whose fans cheered him a lot as ‘Fiiiiiiiiish’ rang out from the stands.

The ‘Mlungu’ chants are nothing new, as it has also happened to Dean Furman in the past, while Orlando Pirates midfielder Miguel Timm experienced it last season whenever he has been in possession of the ball.

All of these players love it and Allan is no exception.      

“It is an incredible feeling, it is an amazing feeling to have supporters on your side,” said Allan, whose fans cheered him more when he cleared the danger against Zambia in the semi-final loss on Friday.

“For me the only thing I want to do is to make sure that when I wear the badge, I give 100 hundred percent as long as we work hard for one another on the field and fans can see that, for me that is the most important thing.”

As a country that is still fairly new in the democracy, it might be over analysed as a racist chant targeted at Allan by those who don’t know, similar to what happened prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup to Matthew Booth when international media wrongly reported that the former defender suffered ‘racist slurs’.

But he was able to put it to bed and for Allan it has never once crossed his mind as being a racist chant.

“Arg, I have never looked at it that way or something like that for me [as racist chant]. It has never been anything more than just a nickname to be fair,” said Allan.

Allan, who has missed just one game of four played by Bafana’s makeshift side in Durban due to injury, is expected to lead the line against Malawi in the COSAFA Cup bronze game at King Zwelithini Stadium on Sunday (15:00).