Bosman Stadium has played host to significant international events in recent times.
Rugby spectacles such as the African Sevens Olympic qualifiers and the Women’s Rugby World Cup qualifiers have been played at the local venue.
Despite this, there are parts of the stadium that many users are not proud of.
There are sewer pipes that run across the grounds that have burst and caused plenty of problems.
The issue is reportedly the reason the United Cricket Club decided to relocate to Benoni.
“Two years ago cricket [officials]reported this whole matter to the council, and had several meetings. Cricket has actually left because of the faeces coming into the stadium,” said Brakpan Rugby Club chairperson Harry Nieuwenhuis.
“Now the whole structure seems to be gone,and flooding the rugby stadium as well. This is not just a maintenance issue, this is a disaster issue. The parkrun people and children can’t come through here anymore. This is a serious health issue. We’ll have to get disaster management here. All the walls are keeling over.”
Read: United Cricket Club relocates to Benoni
Nieuwenhuis believes this is a problem that needs urgent attention.
Not only is human waste an issue, but there is also water that goes through the grounds.
“The floodlights that are worth millions are basically under water as it is, so that water is going to blow out these lights and then we are going to sit without any floodlights,” said the rugby chairperson.
“This can [negatively]influence Currie Cup rugby, the Gold Cup that we are going to play here, plus the Volcano competition which is starting at the end of January. So time is a big issue.”
The City of Ekurhuleni acknowledged they are aware of the problem.
“The city has become aware of this sewer problem, which creates a big challenge for the department of water and sanitation due to the stormwater infiltration, which worsens during the rainy season. This is the main contributor for the overflowing of the sewer network at several places downstream, and this includes the rugby club overflowing. We are currently investigating ways to resolve the problem, such as increasing the network capacity by installing bigger pipes, and also alternative routes to try and avoid crossing stormwater systems and the crossing of services such as the railway line,” said Ekurhuleni’s divisional head of communications and media relations, Nhlanhla Cebekhulu.
Cebekhulu, however, admitted that the problem will not be solved quickly.
Also read: Flooding causes major havoc at United Cricket Club
“It must, however, be noted that this would be a long-term solution as the replacement of these pipes lines must go through all the relevant processes. There are two huge pipelines, which need to be relocated. This may reduce this problem once the pipelines are relocated. As and when the blockages occur, we respond through unblocking of the sewer lines, and treating the spillage afterwards,” said Cebekhulu.
“With this particular incident, we found a lot of foreign objects inside the line, which were also causing a blockage. These make it a challenge to clear the blockage, and we did respond to it once we became aware of the problem.”
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