Give FC ground

THE CITY of Cape Town has the ideal opportunity to spurn any suggestion that it tends to neglect the sport of football. They say actions speak louder than words… Let’s see how the city responds in assisting Cape Town City FC in their frantic search for a suitable training venue, one that is conducive to the club’s status as a topflight professional football club and, importantly, to a team that is currently challenging for the PSL title.

There’s no need to harp on about what City have achieved as a football club since their inception in June last year.

They’ve taken the PSL by storm, they’ve injected new life into the sport in the Mother City and, by their success, they’ve heaped admiration and glory on Cape Town as a city.

In fairness, the City of Cape Town has done its bit in helping City get off the ground. But, and this is the rub, it needs to do much more, and urgently too, especially with regard to a training venue for the team.

Surely, in a city as big and prosperous as this, there has to be a ground available for the club to use.

Yes, there are red tape issues, as always with administrative situations like these, but the city has had many months to solve the training ground crisis.

Now, because of all the dithering, City, one of the top football teams in the country, have to rely on the generosity of a primary school in Gardens for a pitch to train on. And, as the club’s players and coach Eric Tinkler regularly complain, what they are training on now is woefully inadequate.

It goes without saying that any club with designs on a title has to be able to prepare properly. There has to be harmony of spirit and happiness both on and off the field.

It’s no secret that a key element of City’s success has been the unity of the squad, but gradually, because of the training situation, it has unsettled the team in recent weeks.

City boss John Comitis has already said he cannot continue in this fashion. He is adamant that he cannot start another season in Cape Town if things don’t change.

The ball’s in your court, City of Cape Town.