SEDIBENG.-The struggle for the Vaal to produce a top-flight football team continues, and it is a bitter pill to swallow. While our local fans starve for professional action, teams from outside our borders are enjoying the freedom of our sporting facilities.
It has been a long time since this region has had a professional football club of its own.
Zakes’ Sports Corner has raised this concern many times.
To be clear, Zakes’ Sports Corner is not simply complaining for the sake of it. However, it is hard to ignore that clubs like Jomo Cosmos and Sekhukhune United are using our local grounds for their ABC Motsepe League and DStv Diski Challenge home matches. Mind you, neither team is even based in this region, but they play their home fixture at Isak Steyl Stadium.
They are enjoying the best of what we have to offer.
While I assume they pay for the use of these facilities, something Zakes’ Sports Corner intends to investigate, the moral of the story remains: outsiders are grabbing the opportunities we are missing. We all know that people of the Vaal are passionate about football, regardless of the fact that there is no top-flight football in this region.
It is not as if Zakes’ Sports Corner is complaining!
But how long must this region allow outside teams to use our grounds just because we don’t have a professional club of our own?
So, should we make peace with the fact that others use our facilities to their advantage while we, as the region, are still trying to figure out our own future? Some might ask, “Zakes, what is the problem if they use the facilities?”
Young Pirates FC, currently playing in the ABC Motsepe League, uses Sicelo Stadium in Meyerton for their home fixtures.
Like Zakes’ Sports Corner highlighted in the previous column, I hoped that they would play at venues like Qetilizwe ground, which is within walking distance for the Evaton community.
Because we lack a top-flight team, we are forced to “go with the flow.” We have no choice but to allow outside teams to use our facilities.
Zakes’ Sports Corner is aware that the facilities are privately owned sporting facilities, but…..This is a topic for another day.
Until we have our own representative in professional football, we have no say.
For now, we will wait patiently, but the question remains: when will the Vaal finally play for itself?
