Festival-damaged stadium threatens future football games

The Alexandra North Rand Local Football Association will be a casualty of Christmas eve festivities when the second half of the football season starts mid January.

This after a music festival at the Alexandra stadium resulted in damage to the pitch by revelers who danced the night away from Christmas eve to the early hours of Christmas day. Despite the already soggy pitch and intermittent rains, hundreds of revelers are said to have thronged the pitch with vehicles causing further damage that requires attention for the pitch to be in playable condition.

Mafika Morajane, association secretary, decried the damage saying it will impact the commencement of the second half of the soccer season starting 17 January. He said they [Association] were uncertain who would bear responsibility for the repairs before kickoff. He said the association had recently returned to the stadium in anticipation of using it after many months when it was being revamped by the council. “Phase one of the revamping involved renovating the association offices and perimeter fencing and the second phase of laying the pitch and upgrading the stands is still pending under a R4 million council budget. In the interim we intend to re-use the pitch after relocating back from the Balfour Football grounds. The damage leaves us in a dilemma with only a few weeks before the season resumes.”

Morajane also stated that at meetings held with council officials, it was agreed in principle that the pitch would be reserved only for football matches while church activities and festivals would be confined to the parking area and the stands only. “We are surprised the festival, which caused damage to the pitch, was authorised.” In addition to the damage, Morajane said there was also broken glass which, if not removed, would be concealed by the grass and would injure players. He also said with the maintenance team on break until early January, he hoped Region E officials would, on resumption of duty, inform the association on plans to expedite the restoration of the pitch in readiness for the matches.

Officials at the regional offices couldn’t be reached due to the festive season break.