Agreement reached in sports club saga
An agreement has been reached between the city and Berea Rovers Sports Club.
BEREA Rovers Sports Club has been saved.
Berea Rovers and Hoy Park Management have reached an agreement and details will follow tomorrow.
The sad plight of the 130-year-old club has been in the news after it was announced that eThekwini council had decided to give the Berea Rovers Sports Club its marching orders from the premises which it has occupied for 38 years, in favour of Liverpool Soccer Club’s international academy.
EXCO gave city manager, S’bu Sithole, permission to sign a 30-year lease agreement with Hoy Park Management, a partner of the British Premier League club to develop the 14.334ha King’s Park northern precinct which Rovers occupies.
Once developed, the site will host a hotel where talented local children between the ages of five and 14 will reside while they are schooled and trained to play soccer.
Berea Rover’s chairperson, Dave Stevens, said the Berea Rovers committee had on many occasions tried unsuccessfully to contact the city council to renew the lease and the city manager had instructed Berea Rovers to vacate the premises as a matter of urgency so that the Liverpool lease agreement can be signed.
This new agreement will, however, enable the club to continue running.
Updates to follow.
