City have a home game, but it has to start at 6pm ...
CAPE TOWN CITY’s home venue problems are likely to get much worse before it gets any better. As it is, while they’ve managed to secure the Cape Town Stadium for their crunch, top-of-the-table clash against PSL log leaders Baroka FC tomorrow, the game will have to kick off at the unfortunate time of 6pm.
City boss John Comitis explains: “To be honest, we had no stadium at all for this game. Athlone wasn’t available, but we, in any case, are not keen to play there because the surface is terrible. Cape Town Stadium wasn’t available either because they have to start rigging for next month’s World Rugby Sevens event.
“We were looking at taking the game elsewhere, but, as a final request, we went back to the city and asked how we could make it possible to play the Baroka game at the Cape Town Stadium. They were amenable and said they could start rigging a day later, but we needed to start at 6pm, to leave time for the clean up afterwards. We took it, so 6pm it is. But for this I have to thank the city’s Stuart Diamond and Lesley de Reuck, who are always prepared to fight for football.”
The water restrictions in the Cape have compounded Cape clubs’ difficulties, with Athlone Stadium struggling to pass the standards set by the league. As such, even the three National First Division clubs – Stellenbosch, Ubuntu Cape Town and Cape Town All Stars – are struggling to find home venues. Comitis, though, is adamant that Athlone is not part of the club’s future; their supporters are simply not keen on the township football venue.
To exacerbate the issue, Comitis also has to take into consideration the likelihood that Western Province Rugby will move to Cape Town Stadium in the near future – and what does that mean for football with regard to the availability of the former 2010 World Cup venue?
Comitis says he is still committed to building his own facility – which will include both training and match venues – but he needs the city to get moving in assisting him to make it possible. It is especially the administrative red tape that is hindering Comitis from getting started with his grand project.
And, while all that is going on in the background, City still have to ensure that they remain a competitive, match-winning team on the field.
“For Baroka tomorrow, there can be only one result,” said Comitis. “We want to win take the three points, go to the top of the log and put the pressure on the other teams. Just think about it, we’ve had a bit of a lull, a few bad results, and yet we are still right up there and challenging. The key to tomorrow’s game is to win and show that we may have slipped up a few times, but we are back in the reckoning.”
City welcome two key players back from injury tomorrow – winger Aubrey Ngoma and goalkeeper Shu-aib Walters – but injured Nigerian striker Victor Obinna is still two weeks away from being ready.