26 years ago to the day, 42 supporters never returned home after the Orkney disaster at the Oppenheimer (Orkney) Stadium. 

Kaizer Chiefs faced Orlando Pirates in a pre-season friendly and chaos erupted in the overcrowded stadium when Fani Madida equalised for Amakhosi.

‘The fallen will always be in our memory,’ Chiefs chairman Kaizer Motaung wrote on the club’s website about the Orkney disaster, which was South Africa’s worst sporting incident before the tragic Ellis Park disaster in 2001 where 43 people lost their lives.

‘We heard in the dressing room that the game was not going to continue,’ reflects Amakhosi legend Ace Khuse, who played in that match in 1991, ‘but we only realised the full extent of the tragedy when we were in the bus leaving the stadium. Many players cried when they heard the news.’

‘We have a tradition at Kaizer Chiefs of recalling the high and low points in our history as a Club,’ said Motaung.

‘The Orkney disaster is certainly a dark moment. Every year we stand still to commemorate what happened that day. This is also why we played the legends game in August 2015 – to honour those that lost their lives.

‘On behalf of Kaizer Chiefs, I would like to extend words of sympathy to the family and friends of the departed ones,’ concluded Motaung.