Kazier Chiefs gets mixed reactions from fans for retiring Luke Fleur’s jersey

by Limpho Nonkonyane

Kaizer Chiefs Football Club announced their decision to retire late member Luke Fleur’s number 26 jersey.

Luke Fleurs was a centre-back signed under the club, but his dream of becoming the greatest soccer player of all time was short-lived when he lost his life in a hijacking at a petrol station in Johannesburg.

As reported by iDiski Times during Luke’s memorial service, the Kaizer Chiefs sporting director, Kaizer Motaung Jr. said:

“Our new normal the last couple of days or since last week when we come to the village we look at the empty seat where he’d sit in our change room, in our technical centre before our team meetings, in the meal room which we call Taung and of course in the corridors at the village.”

Motaung Jr added that his father, the club’s executive chairman, Dr Kaizer Motaung, agreed to retire Luke’s number 26 jersey, as they believed it was the right thing to do

This announcement received a mixed reaction from X (previously known as Twitter) users as they felt that retiring the jersey of a player who has never played an official match before was unnecessary.

One user commented:

One user posed a question:

Another user said fans cannot decide how the club honours their fallen soldier.

An X user felt the decision taken by the club was good.

Also see: Internet mourns death of Kaizer Chiefs star Luke Fleurs