Soccer fans left in dark, muni left red-faced

POLOKWANE – The Premier Soccer League (PSL) match between SuperSport United and Orlando Pirates was disrupted 27 minutes before the end due to faulty floodlights at the Peter Mokaba Sports Complex on Tuesday evening. Technicians tried to resolve the issue to no avail, causing great unhappiness among the crowd attending the match.

PSL media relations officer, Luxolo September, said the game had to be resumed yesterday (Wednesday) at 12:00 with 27 minutes remaining and Matsatsantsa with a 1-0 lead.

Still on Tuesday, Michael Boxall opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with a neat finish from a David Mathebula free-kick, the New Zealand international with a goal on debut.

“The lights at the Peter Mokaba complex went out just past the hour mark. Generators were in place to combat the problem which was at first thought to be caused by load shedding,” explained September.

He added the match was abandoned in the 62nd minute with SuperSport United leading 1-0 and according to Rule 5.7, remaining minutes of the fixture would be resumed. Soccer fans should bring the ticket stubs from Tuesday night to see the remainder of the game.

He further said that incidents such as these happened in stadiums across the world, but they did regret what happened on Tuesday night.

Polokwane Municipality apologised to the football community, sponsors and the Premier Soccer League for the failure of the floodlights which led to the abandonment of the match.

Acting municipal manager, Ndavhe Ramakuela, said, “we regret and apologise unreservedly for the failure to have required lax levels due to problems with floodlights on the western side of the stadium. Even after employing the best procedures to remedy the situation, we could not fix the problem within the required time.”

Ramakuela added that normal systems testing was done on Friday, August 7 as well as on Monday, August 10.

He said the floodlights were switched on two hours before kick-off and worked well until a portion went off at the 62nd minute. Electricians on site tried all procedures to get the floodlights back on, without any success.

He said the municipality called an advanced team of specialists to repair the said area and to put measures in place to avoid the future recurrence of such a problem.

“We have hosted more than 16 home games for SuperSport United since 2011 without experiencing major problems, this being the second in seven months where we have electrical problems. We shall meet with SuperSport United to express our regrets and find a lasting solution to keep our relationship on track,” explained Ramakuela.

He apologised to soccer fanatics: “We are sorry that spectators who came to support the game did not have the full 90-minute experience due to this problem. We shall put our systems in place to ensure that the remaining 27 minutes are played within an acceptable environment.”

Spectators who may have lost or destroyed their tickets had to go to the ticket office next to the stadium where they would be issued new tickets before they could access the stadium.

The final score for the match after the remaining 27 were played was 1-0 leading to SuperSport United as the winners.

SuperSport United v Orlando Pirates suspended due to “load shedding”