Chiefs game to go ahead despite crowd concerns

AJAX Cape Town’s match with Kaizer Chiefs will go ahead at the Athlone Stadium on Saturday night after police said yesterday that it was safe to proceed.

Ajax do not want to play the game because they fear that demand for tickets will lead to security problems, but a meeting with officials gave the game the green light.

It is being played at the Athlone Stadium – where the capacity is 21 500 – because the Cape Town Stadium is not available‚ booked out for a music festival.

Chiefs’ last two games against Ajax at the Cape Town Stadium have attracted an average crowd of 35 000 and Ajax owner Ari Efstathiou wanted to postpone Saturday’s meeting to a date when the Cape Town Stadium would be available to accommodate demand.

Alternatively, he had sought to move the game to Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium but was refused permission by the Premier Soccer League.

Police initially agreed with the club that Athlone might present problems with unticketed supporters seeking entry, but after three meetings‚ authorities felt the game could go ahead.

ý The internal turmoil at Baroka FC took another twist when club chairman Khurishi Mphahlele strongly denied giving suspended coach Jacob Sakala an ultimatum to win four matches or face scrutiny from management.

Mphahlele said yesterday that it was Sakala who had asked for four matches to turn things round at the basement club, after the 2-1 defeat to Chippa United and the goalless draw with Platinum Stars.

The four matches in question are tough encounters against BidVest Wits‚ Polokwane City‚ Cape Town City and Kaizer Chiefs.

“After our match against Platinum Stars‚ we met to discuss what was holding us back and how we could solve the problems‚” Mphahlele said.

“My input was that when we played against Platinum Stars and Chippa United‚ we played with the mentality of going for a draw.

“Sakala asked for four matches to turn things around, but I still did not give them a mandate to win all those four matches.”

Attempts to obtain comment from Sakala and technical director Mark Harrison were unsuccessful. – TMG Digital