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Orlando Pirates Flash a badge with a skull and crossbones on it at almost any South African and they will know you’re talking about Orlando Pirates. From small beginnings in 1937, Orlando Pirates Football Club has become more than just one of the most recognisable brands in South Africa: It is ingrained in the Culture of the culture of the country. For around ten to twelve million fans, there’s no grey area. It’s black and white! Pirates was formed 72 years ago and have enjoyed a rich and successful history to date. Not least of these is the spawning of some of football’s favoured sons, the legends that have encouraged the belief that “Pirates is football and football is Pirates”. Names like Kaizer Motaung, Jomo Sono, Keith Broad, Chippa Moloi and Nick Sishweni come up when fans around the globe talk football legends. In South Africa being a Pirates fan, supporter or club member brings the kind of status only consistent high – and very public - performance can achieve. Pirates made history when they became the first club on the Southern Hemisphere to win the top club competition on the continent, the African Champions Cup (now known as the African Champions League). A year later they concluded the double by lifting the African Super Cup. Coached by Dutch World Cup star Ruud Krol, the side play to please The Ghost, as The Buccaneers’ supporters are affectionately known, and hence their newly adopted slogan ‘Happy People’. They were the inaugural winners of the Vodacom Challenge in 1999, beating Tunisian giants Esperance in the final, and also claimed the trophy in 2005 when they beat Soweto rivals Kaizer Chiefs in the decider. History As important as the growing strength of the football team was the part it played in its community, motivating people to claim land to live on in an era when black South Africans despaired of having even the most meagre home. The team gave people hope, not only with a “shoe-shine” football style that set its players apart from others, but with its growing power to encourage their upliftment. The club became an “extended family” that offered protection to its members and Wednesday night football meetings became social upliftment events. While never a political force, Orlando Pirates was seen then – as it is now – as a team that cares deeply about its supporters. Pirates has always used its position to improve the game of football, from forming the Orlando African Football Association in 1945 to help grow the game in the township, to joining the South African Soccer League in KwaZulu Natal because the league was non-racial. Fans believe that it is not by coincidence that the chairman of the organisation that won the 2010 soccer bid for South Africa was also the chairman of Orlando Pirates Football Club. It is an innovative club that believes in investing time in the development of their industry, and current chairman Dr Irvin Khoza is adamant that the club continue to grow football as a whole. The team won promotion to the top-flight of the JBFA in 1944, and won the country’s elite cup competition, the SA Robertson Cup, in 1950. They claimed their first countrywide trophy when they won the 1971 National Professional Soccer League in its first year. In fact, they would dominate the early years, winning again in 1973, 1975 and 1976. The 1970s was by far the most successful decade for The Buccaneers as, apart from those League titles, they claimed three Life Challenge Cup trophies, three BP Top Eight titles and three Sales House Cup wins. They achieved their greatest success when they were crowned Kings of Africa, the only club from South Africa to achieve this feat, in 1995 when they won the then CAF Champions Cup. Nickname: The Buccaneers / Happy People / Sea Robbers Physical address: 2nd Floor, Oakhurst Building, 11 St Andrews Road, Parktown, 2193 Home ground: Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg Main sponsor: Vodacom TECHNICAL STAFF CLUB RECORDS VODACOM CHALLENGE HISTORY OTHER HONOURS
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