Precious time and players are being lost due to the Ekurhuleni municipality’s failure to maintain their floodlights.
This is the view of East Rand United chairperson Marius de Vos, who is lamenting the current situation of broken floodlights at the club’s training base at the Reiger Park Sports Grounds.
With the Valke season is set to officially get underway in late May, de Vos has added that since club rugby has been given the go-ahead by governing body SA Rugby, United has not been able to get in a single training session under their belts because of faulty lights.
This comes just a few weeks after management from the Makopano Boksburg Rugby Club spoke of the same problem they’ve been experiencing at Prince George Park, which does not only affect rugby but a multiple of sports because the facilities in question are not just used for one sporting code.
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“The club rugby season has kicked off in all earnest,” said de Vos.
“The Reiger Park Sports Arena has no floodlights due to illegal connections to the distribution box and vandalism of the equipment.
“We have approached the sports facilities manager in Boksburg to get the lights fixed well in advance of the kick-off of the season. He has replied he has prepared a job card sent to Real Estate, which is actually responsible for the maintenance of all council-owned properties, but he could not guarantee any action as there is no money for maintenance until the 2021/22 budget kicks in on July 1.
“All sporting codes are seriously affected by the lack of floodlights as most players can only practice after work during the course of the week.
“I must also mention that all sporting codes are paying religiously for these services as they will not be allowed to use it without having paid.
“We are expecting the municipality to fix these floodlights as in yesterday, as our account is up to date.”
Car lights used for lighting
“Eighty per cent of players have left East Rand United Rugby Club, but we are grateful for the 20 per cent who have stuck with the club,” said club senior player Cameron Rooi.
“We have a great team working behind the scenes doing everything they can to recruit players.
“We have been practising with no lights at the stadium, using our car lights for practice.
“Hopefully the lights will be back before May 22 because that’s when the league starts.”
United’s training times are 6pm to 7pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Any player interested in joining the club can contact 062 685 0255.
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