CAPE TOWN - The Ajax Cape Town v Kaizer Chiefs fixture, scheduled for Athlone Stadium on Saturday night, remains in the balance.
A final decision, though, on whether the game goes ahead or not will be taken at a third priority meeting to be held on Wednesday morning.
Cape Town Stadium is unavailable because of a music festival. Ajax had initially made a provisional booking at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, but, because they have not confirmed, the venue is no longer available.
So, as it stands, if Athlone is again vetoed by the priority meeting on Wednesday morning, the game will be postponed.
The priority meeting consists of the stakeholders involved in organising the football match – Ajax, the police, the traffic department and the city’s disaster management.
In the two previous meetings, the decision was that the match cannot go ahead at Athlone because of security risks. Now the provisional police commissioner has ordered that a third priority meeting be held, where a final and binding decision will be taken.
Ajax, while still harbouring serious concerns around security, will abide by the decision.
“If it’s yes from the priority meeting, the game will go ahead,” said Ajax chief executive Ari Efstathiou.
Efstathiou, though, spelt out some of their concerns at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
“In our home games against Chiefs over the last two years, we had about 35 000 people. The PSL has told us to only make 21 000 available at Athlone, but we know, from experience, there will be thousands outside and it will create a problem.
“For example, at our fixture with Sundowns at Athlone last season, we had similar problems. There were many people outside pushing and shoving to get in. It was a scary scenario that had the potential to turn disastrous and I made the decision to just open the gates and let the people in, and avoid something bigger and tragic developing.
“Chiefs are top of the PSL, it’s the end of the month, it’s Saturday, and Athlone is much closer to the townships… rest assured, a lot more people than tickets issued will turn up. And remember, that if something does happen, as a club, Ajax will be held responsible.
“As it is now, we cannot do anything. We cannot even put tickets up for sale because we do not know if the game will take place. Until we get the go-ahead, there’s nothing we can do.”