Dilapidated safety nets in cage poses danger to local athletes

Field athletes, coaches and event organisers using the old Peter Mokaba Stadium for athletics meetings are concerned about the dilapidated state of the safety nets covering the discus cage at the venue and have appealed to the stadium management to have the situation remedied.
The dilapidated state of the netting was clearly evident on Tuesday when athletes participating in the Ironwood Athletics event for independent primary schools had to make use of the cage.
A local athletics coach and expert in field items explained that the cage or enclosure should be prepared and maintained in such a way that it can halt the flight of a 2 kg disc with a velocity of around 25 m per second. There should be no threat to the athlete of the disc ricocheting or rebounding towards him or her. The U-shaped cage has to be 6 m wide at the mouth and around 7 m in front of the middle of the throwing circle. The end points of this mouth serve as the inner edge of the cage netting. The height of the netting panels or draped netting at the lowest point has to be a minimum of 4 m and can be made from natural or synthetic fibre or alternatively mild or high tensile steel wire. The coach also said the cage must be fully covered prior and during the event to avoid any eventualities.
“The cage at the old Peter Mokaba Stadium was half covered and anything could have happened. Discus throw equipment is dangerous and it can seriously harm anyone. There was lot of movement of children and officials on the field and they were susceptible. The municipality should be careful because there could be repercussions if that happens.”
A concerned parent of one of the participating schools spoke on condition of anonymity and accused the municipality of negligence. “They know that this is the time for athletics but they did not prepare the stadium. We are paying for this facility and we deserve better. The cage was not covered as required thus putting the athletes at risk of harming each other with the discus equipment,” the parent said.
Disree Manyane, acting Assistant Manager Media and Stakeholders Unit of the municipality could at the time of going to print not comment as she was awaiting feedback from the relevant department.

Story and photo: Herbert Rachuene
>>herbert.observer@gmail.com