Editor – I refer to the article “Discussing sport” in the Ladysmith Gazette of July 7.
I would like to know what budget the municipality has for sports if money cannot be found to replace fluorescent lamps at the Indoor Sports Complex.
There have been about 40 dead tubes for a long time and it is getting worse. Also, there is no money to repair a hole in the floor, which is covered with a piece of rubber mat and is dangerous, especially for soccer and hockey players.
What is hindering indoor sport in Ladysmith is the fact that the Indoor Sports Hall is continuously given out for uses other than sport. This is not because there are no other facilities as, in our area, there are 33 community halls.
The floor of the Indoor Sports Hall has been constructed with a softer material to accommodate all sports, and has a softer effect on legs and body. Knowing that there would be exceptions in the usage, council purchased protective rubber mats and adopted a bylaw to ensure that these mats are used whenever the hall is used for purposes other than sport.
These mats are now in such a dilapidated state that they can no longer be used, resulting in the floor having no protection when used for other purposes. Sad to say, the floor is getting damaged more and more.
If Mr Xaba and Co are serious about sport, they would assist in ensuring that the Indoor Sports Complex is not given out for other purposes, at least until the protective mats have been replaced and thereafter with more austerity.
An example of over usage for other purposes can be seen this month, when three Thursdays and three Fridays have been taken from badminton and soccer respectively. One must ask how indoor sport will survive under these circumstances.
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