Bertie Grobbelaar acknowledges honour, responsibility of world's biggest derby

For years, the rivalry between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs has been labelled, 'one of the biggest derbies in world football', but recent statistics point to the FNB Stadium-hosted fixture being the largest in terms of in-stadium attendance.

This is largely down to Barcelona's Camp Nou currently undergoing renovations, capping its attendance at just over 62 000, while Argentina's Superclásico between River Plate and Boca Juniors attracts around 85 000 at Estadio Monumental.

With Sunday's Betway Premiership clash sold out, and 90 000-plus spectators again expected to fill The Calabash, Grobbelaar has highlighted the huge responsibility of hosting a fixture of this magnitude.

"Firstly, it's a privilege to do so, but it's also a lot of responsibility. I said it to my team in a meeting, we take it personal and over the last year, year and a half, according to me, the experience is not how it should be. And I'm not referring to anything related to the inside of the venue and the quality of what is presented inside," said Grobbelaar

READ: Katlego Mphela backs Kaizer Chiefs in high stakes Soweto Derby

"The experience of getting to the venue is not up to the standard that I believe is world class. And there's been a lot of work put into that. It's always nice when things go well to put up your hand and say, "No, it's us." And if things go bad and not according to plan, to point fingers at others."

"The planning of an event of that magnitude obviously entails more than just the venue. There's a lot of role players and stakeholders. From a transport and traffic management persepective, the safety and security, that's the crowd management. When that escalates to crowd control, your state security services get involved. So from a planning perspective, that is our major concerns in the builld-up to this and I think that's been addressed."

"And I'm thinking to myself now, I only realise now, I',m actually digressing from your question about the magnitude of the event and the honour and the privilege to be associated with that. But we also fully accpet and realise the magnitude of the responsibility as a stakeholder to the ESSBC."

The Camp Nou is set to become a 105 000-seater by late 2027, while Estadio Monumental are targeting a 101 000-seater by late 2029, but Grobbelaar says increasing the 2010 FIFA World Cup stadium's capacity is simply impractical and unjustifiable.

 Morocco is currently building the Stade Hassan II in Benslimane (outskirts of Casablanca) specifically to host the 2030 World Cup Final, and this is projected to seat 115 000 spectators upon completion in 2028.

Another unique aspect of Chiefs and Pirates supporters is their ability and willingness to sit alongside one another, while other derbies around the world require strict separation within stadia, with Kaizer Motaung and Irvin Khoza requiring massive credit there for.

One sticking point of the Soweto Derby remains the traffic congestion around FNB Stadium and fans' experience of getting into the venue before kick-off.

Grobbelaar says the 2010 World Cup experience of reserved seating is something they are eagerly and actively working towards.