Fears of football injuries on damaged stadium pitch
ALEXANDRA - Despite fears of the Alex stadium pitch's unreadiness for the second half of the football season, matches were played on it this past weekend.
Despite fears of the Alex Stadium pitch’s unreadiness for the second half of the football season, matches were played on it this past weekend.
The fears were raised by secretary of the Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association, Mafika Morajane (Festivities leave messy pitch, week ending 9 January) after damage was caused by revelers at a Christmas eve music festival.
Morajane had raised concerns over who would be held responsible for the damage. He said there was an agreement with sports authorities for the stadium’s pitch to be reserved for football matches only while other activities would be restricted to the stands or parking lot.
The pitch now appears to be in lush condition, but Morajane said this was deceptive as the maintenance team had just patched up the field. He said the pitch needed to be levelled properly to avoid injuries to players.
Rams Sekati of the city council’s Region E Sports and Recreation Department said work done on the field was to restore the damaged parts to enable matches to be played.
“As a community asset, the stadium is not solely for football matches but other community activities,” he said. He added that more work was yet to be done in phase two of the stadium revamp, including relaying of the pitch, repairing the stands and putting in new seats. Phase one included re-fencing, fixing gates and the construction of an office block.
Sekati asked the association to keep in touch with the department to better understand the developments relating to the phase two revamp scheduled to start early this year.
