Cape Town City and Kaizer Chiefs fans will find out on Thursday whether their favourite clubs’ blockbuster fixture will be played at Cape Town Stadium next week.
City are scheduled to host the Amakhosi on Tuesday 27 August at 7.30pm, with the 2010 Fifa World Cup venue the preferred choice.
But there have been problems with the pitch in recent months, with Cape Town City pointing out that non-sporting events such as Monster Trucks had had a negative effect on the playing surface.
Club chairman John Comitis criticised the City of Cape Town at the time.
“It is this very attitude
that caused so many football casualties in Cape Town. In just the last few years, we
have seen professional football dying in Cape
Town because of a lack of available facilities,” he
said.
“Chippa United relocated to Nelson
Mandela Bay,
Santos were relegated, Vasco da Gama were
relegated, Ajax were relegated, Ubuntu were
relegated, FC Cape Town
and Cape Town All Stars were sold.”
That led to the Premiership season opener – a Cape derby between City and Stellenbosch FC – had to be moved to Athlone Stadium just four days before the game.
Subsequently, City also played their MTN8 game against Polokwane City away from their home patch, as they made use of Newlands rugby stadium last Saturday as Cape Town Stadium was still not ready, and Athlone had already been booked by Ajax Cape Town for a NFD game against Free State Stars.
Defending champions City then lost 2-0 to Polokwane.
The City of Cape Town recently stated that the safety of the players was their “primary reason” for declaring that the Cape Town Stadium pitch was unplayable.
They cited the wet weather over the last few months “prevented the grass from ‘knitting’ properly”, and that they had used growth lights as well in an attempt to fix the pitch.
With regards to next week’s Chiefs match, Cape Town City said on Wednesday that they, along with the Premier Soccer League, could be conducting a final pitch inspection at Cape Town Stadium today.
Later in the day, a club spokesman told IOL Sport that the PSL were still assessing the situation, and that an announcement would be made on Thursday morning.
🏟️ | Venue Update!
The PSL and Cape Town City will be conducting a final pitch inspection at the Cape Town Stadium this morning. Following the inspection an announcement will be made about the venue for the next home fixture vs Kaizer Chiefs! #iamCityFC pic.twitter.com/ah1s5I9e28
— Cape Town City FC (@CapeTownCityFC) August 21, 2019
That will be the next City match, while Kaizer Chiefs are back in action on Saturday against SuperSport United at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg (6pm kickoff).
@ashfakmohamed