By Sabelo Skiti
With just three weeks to the 2008 Telkom Charity Cup Spectacular in Mafikeng, Ajax Cape Town have hit out against the organisers, claiming that they have ignored yet another opportunity to bring a big soccer event to the people of Cape Town.
The traditional pre-season tournament, held at the FNB stadium, was last year moved to the Mmabatho stadium because of 2010 construction.
Ajax PRO Shooz Mekuto said the club was not interested in anything to do with the season opener this year.
He felt that the decision was not about football, but based on the convenience for the league administrators. "They must just formally announce that football is a Johannesburg game," said Mekuto.
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"The PSL administration just wants the convenience of driving from Johannesburg and back instead of travelling as far away as Cape Town," he said, adding that if the league was serious about gaining local support before 2010 they should have considered Cape Town, a city that will play a big role in the World Cup.
PSL Chief Operations Officer Ronnie Schloss said the choice of Mmabatho was purely driven by raising as much money as possible for charity.
"The main point of focus for the charity is accommodation," said Schloss. "Since last year, FNB and Ellis Park have been unavailable to us due to construction work, so Mmabatho, which seats 60 000, was the next choice."
He also said Newlands hadn't been an option last year, as it was unavailable because of rugby.
"Another problem with Newlands is that part of their capacity is made up of suites and that will mean less money from the gate."
The league also refuted claims of football being monopolised by Johannesburg, saying that they have been taking games out of Gauteng, with some cup finals being moved to Durban. "In fact," said Schloss, "the people are complaining that they want some finals for Jo'burg.
"Newlands is not an option and one has to be careful bringing games to Athlone with construction going on at the moment. Until Cape Town have a stadium of their own we can't do anything."
The Charity Cup tournament starts on August 2.
- This article was originally published on page 17 of Cape Argus on July 09, 2008
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