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Bafana to play Nigeria at 'condemned' venue
IN WHAT seems yet another of those strange decisions that constantly emerge
on the South African soccer scene, Bafana Bafana will play Nigeria's Super
Eagles in their critical African Nations Cup qualifier on Saturday, September
6 on a ground condemned by the Premier Soccer League (PSL) as not fit
for competition.
It is, on the surface, an astonishing contradiction for the game of potentially
disastrous consequences for South African soccer at Port Elizabeth's Eastern
Province Rugby Stadium, with the 2010 World Cup hosts needing to avoid
defeat to retain a grain of hope of qualifying for the 2010 African Nations
Cup Finals in Angola only months before hosting Fifa's global extravaganza.
Safa CEO Raymond Hack, currently in Beijing for the Olympic Games, has
justified the decision to play the game in Port Elizabeth while hardly
explaining the bizarre paradox in the thinking between South African soccer's
controlling body and the PSL.
And, not withstanding Safa's decision, South Africa's professional soccer
organisation have vetoed the opening game of the Premier League season
between newly-promoted Bay United and Moroka Swallows from taking place
at the Eastern Province Rugby Stadium next week and shifted the match
to Rustenburg's Olympia Park as a rescheduled Swallows' home game.
PSL chief operations officer Professor Ronnie Schloss, considered the
leading authority in the country on such matters, visited Port Elizabeth
recently and declared the Eastern Province Rugby Stadium sub-standard
for Premier League games for an assortment of reasons.
Schloss said the playing surface, used primarily for rugby, was sub-standard,
bumpy and unsuitable for PSL fixtures in its present texture.
'It would be well-nigh impossible to implement security measures of the
required level at the stadium in its present flawed condition,' said Schloss.
And, what is more, many of the required facilities for players, spectators
and officials were non-existent and below standard.
On this basis, Schloss declared the Eastern Province Rugby Stadium forbidden
territory for Premier League matches until the necessary shortcomings
had been rectified.
Hack, however, says the Port Elizabeth municipal authorities and those
in charge of the Port Elizabeth Stadium had given Safa an undertaking
that 'everything will be in place on September 6.
'Our contract with the Port Elizabeth authorities,' added Hack, ' has
a penalty clause that will be implemented if they are unable to meet their
commitments.
'And,' said Safa's CEO, ' it will be Safa's prerogative to shift the Nigeria
game to another venue if the improvements are not proceeding according
to plan.' But what prompted Safa to venture to Port Elizabeth in the first
place with so much uncertainty surrounding the city's suspect venue remains
a mystery.
And the reasons suggested contain a strong element of unreality, if not
disbelief.
It has been mooted darkly that because of the massive influx of Nigerians
into the Gauteng area playing the game in Johannesburg, Pretoria or surroundings
would be tantamount to depriving Bafana of much-needed home-ground advantage.
Nigerians, however, are all over South Africa - and they can be expected
to be present in large numbers in Port Elizabeth to support the Super
Eagles in their bid to repeat the 2-0 win over Bafana in the earlier African
qualifier in Nigeria.
And, in a complete about-turn to the continual complaints when Bafana
have played games on sub-standard pitches in other African countries,
it is now suggested that because of Nigeria's superiority in skill and
team rapport an inferior pitch would be to the advantage of South Africa.
What is more, it is suggested that Port Elizabeth soccer needs a boost
after recently having the under-construction Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium
removed as a venue for next year's eight- nation Confederations Cup tournament,
which is a precur- sor and trial run for the 2010 World Cup.
But there is a persuasive Port Elizabeth lobby that wields great power
and influence in Safa - and this factor might well have played a major
role in taking the Bafana game to the 'condemned' venue.
dispatch.co.za,
Aug 25 2008
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