City finally agrees to upgrade the iconic Alexandra Stadium
ALEXANDRA -– Alexandra Stadium could finally get the much-needed upgrades that have dragged on for years.
The City of Johannesburg has finally pledged its commitment to upgrade the dilapidated and non-Premier Soccer League compliant Alexandra Stadium.
This follows protracted negotiations between Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association (ANLFA) and the City, with the latter announcing its commitment to revamp the stadium following a meeting between both parties on 23 January.
At the meeting, chairperson of ANLFA Maisha Molepo said the City confirmed it had committed a budget allocation of R2.34 million for this year, in a first step towards what it called initial upgrades to the iconic township’s football facility.
Molepo could not give much detail about the nature of the upgrades, but said a further R2.16 million had been committed for 2020, with a final commitment of R3.43 million for the 2021 financial year.
“I want to believe this is good news for the many of us who have been campaigning and lobbying for many years for this facility to be improved,” he said.
“If these commitments can be honoured, I think we have finally won our battle with the City.”
This commitment from the City comes after Molepo, the football fraternity and members of the community threatened to march on the City of Johannesburg’s Mayoral Office to impress the ‘importance and urgency of our demands’ which they felt the City was not taking seriously.
The march was averted when the City agreed to meet the football association to hear its demands and grievances and an exploratory meeting was held last year with the MMC for Community Development Nonhlanhla Sifumba.
As a further indication of its serious commitment, the City has already put out a tender, asking contractors to register on their database for possible selection to carry out the upgrades on the stadium.
Alexandra Stadium has a long and colourful history as it used to host matches of iconic football clubs such as Orlando Pirates, Moroka Swallows, Pimville United Brothers, Callies and many more in the 40s up to the early 80s.
In a bid to bring back the glory days of elite football matches to Alex, ANLFA applied to the Premier Soccer League to be granted the status of hosting premiership matches, the MultiChoice Diski Challenge and National First Division matches.
The league then inspected the suitability of the stadium for such matches of high profile in accordance with Fifa requirements and the stadium was condemned, sparking the lobby of the City to upgrade the facility and make it Premier Soccer League compliant.
Alex also harbours hopes of one day having a premiership side from the township. It currently has four sides in the ABC Motsepe League which is a second tier league below the prestigious Absa Premiership.
The township also has another four teams campaigning in the third tier league, the SAB League, and hopes are quite high that in a matter of a few years, Alexandra’s own premiership side will finally emerge.
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