Shocking state of municipal fields
● Football associations up in arms as fixtures continue to back up due to lack of facilities
Neglected municipal soccer facilities with uncut grass, unmarked fields, large bare patches and no running water are but a few of the challenges local football associations in Nelson Mandela Bay have to endure.
The state of municipal facilities has resulted in some associations falling behind on fixtures while others have not even started playing.
Lulama Boyce, 31, who is with the Walmer Football Association (Wafa) interim structure, said they were six matches behind.
While Wafa awaits the municipality’s assistance, other local fooball associations have already started with their fixtures.
“The Walmer Community field which we used to play our fixtures is under construction and we were told that it should be complete by August.
“Due to the unavailability of our field we made alternative arrangements with Walmer High School to use their pitch and the school principal gave us the go ahead to use the field,” Boyce said.
“So now we have been engaging with the municipality since last year, straight after minister Nathi Mthethwa said amateur football could return.
“We have been asking for their assistance to help us in cutting grass and marking the pitch, as they usually do, at our new venue because our field was under construction.
“They didn’t have a problem with that.
“At first we were told to issue a letter from the school giving us the authority to use their pitch, which we have done.
“However, up until today we haven’t heard anything from them since last year when we submitted the letter.
“When we called two weeks ago for an update, they told us that they still needed to select a sub-constructor to do the job.”
He said if the delay continued, the association could be in trouble with their mother body, Safa NMB.
“There is an inter-district tournament that is played and promotional play-offs.
“So now we might be under pressure to get matches done before the end of the June, because we want to take part in these tournaments,” Boyce said.
“The same money that we struggled to put together for registration is the same money we could lose if we do not play our fixtures and finish in the duration set by Safa.”
However, Safa NMB president Simphiwe Mkhangelwa said he was aware of Wafa’s problem and that the association would not lose out on their registration monies.
He said Wafa was not the only association faced with such problems.
“What we normally do once we find out that most of the [associations] are not yet ready, we extend the deadline by a week or so,” he said.
Mkhangelwa said the fields issue was deeply affecting football development in the city.
Kwazakhele Football Association chair Thando Koboka said: “It is just the Premier League that we are accommodating right now, because we are chasing Safa’s deadline for us to produce winners by June.
“The First Division has not kicked off because we don’t have fields and are only using two fields at the Dynamos and Eleven Angels grounds, which are both in a terrible state.
“In fear of this, we are also not allowing our Junior League to play,” Koboka said.
Municipal spokesperson Mamela Ndamase said the municipality did not have a contract for grass cutting in place.
Two of the three fields The Herald visited did not even have grass to cut.
The grass layers of Wolfson field A and B are completely destroyed, with soil, rocks and patches of dead grass all that remain.
The same went for City Defenders’ grounds in New Brighton and Motuma-Shining Stars’ grounds in Daku.
Ndamase said the grass-cutting contract had expired and due to Covid-19, the process to have a new contract in place was disrupted.
During higher levels of the lockdown, many services were disrupted and officials were forced to stay or work from home.
“However, the supply chain management process was started last year and we are still busy with the process.
“A tender was advertised and closed.
“With the tender process under way, the city cannot go on an informal tender,” she said.
“The municipally hopes that by the end of May the supply chain management processes would have been finalised with objections and we can proceed with the work.
KwaNobuhle and Despatch Football Association chair Mthuthuzeli Calata said the grass at the Jabavu Stadium where they played their fixtures was cut and marked in November when it was used for the Cosafa U15 girls tournament.
“The grass has not been cut since then, but we have been playing our weekend fixtures as normal on the pitch,” he said.
Zwide Football Association chair Marks Totwana said they had negotiated with municipal sport director Charmaine Williams to use the Zwide Stadium and she had agreed.
However, the grass had not being cut, the field was unmarked and there was no running water.
“We have only one field which is used by the Regional League women and men, our local football association and also rugby.
“Before the Zwide Stadium, we were using Motuma-Shining Stars’ grounds.
“We were forced to move because of its condition, we feared injuries to our players.
“We had to delay our league because we couldn’t find a suitable field to play on,” Totwana said.
New Brighton Football Association chair Mike Mambara said: “There is only one pitch that is currently in playing condition and that is the New Brighton Oval. The other fields are not maintained and, to make matter worse, they don’t even have soccer poles, Mambara said.