Get behind Mbabane Swallows!

Mbabane Swallows are on the brink of something very special. Qualifying for the group stages of the CAF Champions League is no light feat. Especially for a semi-professional side from little Swaziland. And yet here are the Birds of Mbabane with one foot in what is the last 16 of Africa's Premier club competition.

After Swallows beat the Zambian side 2-1 last week Wednesday, a friend suggested that they (Swallows) should take the return leg to Mbombela Stadium in South Africa. A far-fetched idea but it's not without reason. Instead of getting support here at home Swallows are now having to deal with backstabbing and betrayal. It's disheartening. Local clubs are teaming up with visiting teams to down Swallows.

Where Swallows are, it's no longer just about them. It's about Swazi football now. Qualifying for the last 16 of the Champions League would take Swazi football to unprecedented heights. Sihlangu, our beloved national team, has four crunch AFCON qualifiers later this year.

The experience gained by Swallows players playing in the Champions League group stages would be vital in those qualifiers. Without any iota of doubt, a Swallows win on Saturday would be a Swaziland win, it would be the breaking down of barriers.

Barriers which have held back our football for the longest time. We would be up there, dining with the finest in the continent's top football table. For that reason we, Swazis, should take a moment to reflect. We should allow the importance of where Swallows are to sink in.

Perhaps then we will realise just how big this is. Perhaps then we will all be for Mbabane Swallows than for Zanaco. Saturday's match will not be easy. Swallows are beatable as that loss to Green Mamba on Sunday proved but they are, more often than not, near immortals as proven in last Wednesday’s first leg win.

If Swallows do advance to the group stages on Saturday, it will be hard to imagine a finer sporting feat ever achieved in Swaziland. This is the stuff of dreams and will be the realisation of long held dreams. The dearly departed Swallows boss Victor 'Maradona' Gamedze always wanted to get one over Zambian sides. He might be lying in his grave now but his dream is halfway through being realised.

He and his Swallows need the whole of Swaziland behind them on Saturday however. No, not for some backstabbing nonsense. Just for simple support.