‘We need to educate soccer fans’

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By ANDISIWE MAKINANA, ZARA NICHOLSON and MATT MEDVED

The SA Football Association in the Western Cape says the whole culture of soccer fans in South Africa needs to change before the 2010 World Cup and will embark on an education campaign to achieve this.

Although commentators said the 90 Minutes for Mandela football match on Wednesday night was a commercial success, it was not short of chaos, including a pitch invasion at the final whistle.

Spectators also complained of backlogs in the parking garages and the seating ar-rangement on the stands.

Yesterday a Safa Western Province meeting agreed that although the organisation of the match was largely successful, there was a downside.

Chairman Vernon Seymour said: “We are happy with a lot of things about that match: marketing, good attendance, sizeable number of white people at the stadium.”

But he admitted that there was still a lot to be done before the 2010 World Cup.

“We paid attention to the downside of the game as well; there were lessons learnt and we will correct them.

“For instance, the pitch invasion doesn’t happen in cricket and rugby matches, where there are also no fences around the ground.

“That shows we need to beef up security for soccer matches, but more importantly, we have to educate people that running on to the field is not right.”

Seymour said parking was another concern at Newlands and was a major factor in moving the World Cup.

“In future we will look at or-ganising public parking in areas like Kenilworth, Mowbray and even town and then have shuttles to the stadium.”

Another issue that needed to be addressed urgently was seating arrangements at Newlands.

Seymour said Safa-WP had received complaints that people had fought over seats in the stands. “We normally have a free-sitting arrangement in our PSL matches. People buy tickets with a seat number but would sit anywhere.

“So from this season we will look at enforcing the rule and have visible policing at the stadium. It is about educating people and it will be achieved,” he added.

Gavin Lewis, general manager for marketing at Newlands, reported that all things had gone well at the match, which had attracted a full house of 52 000 fans.

Lewis said that although vuvuzelas were allowed at the match at Newlands on Wednesday and at any other soccer match hosted at the stadium, they were still banned at rugby matches.

“It is for technical reasons at rugby matches where they have line-outs, scrums and lots of other calls and every player needs to hear the calls,” Lewis said.

He said no residents or resident associations were involved in making the rule.

Most people support stadium, survey finds

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By MATT MEDVED

A recent independent market research survey found a substantial support base for the controversial Green Point stadium, while its opponents continue to prepare for court action to stop its construction.

The study, by TNS Research Surveys late last month and early this month, found more than two-thirds of Capetonians were in favour of the World Cup stadium, while 82% of people classified as “poor and unemployed” also supported it.

Two thousand people – 1 261 blacks, 384 whites, 240 coloureds and 115 Indians and Asians – were interviewed for the survey.

It found 69% of Capetonians supported the stadium, with 17% in opposition and 13% saying they were not aware of the issue.

Most of those opposed to the stadium were older than 50 years. The more affluent also opposed it.

The survey found 90% of black respondents were in favour of the stadium, compared with 59% of coloured respondents and 57% of white respondents.

“This is the first scientific research done since the construction of the stadium began,” said the city’s executive director for service delivery integration, Mike Marsden. “Overall, this is good news for Cape Town. It disproves critics’ claims that they speak for the poor who would not want it.”

City 2010 spokesman Pieter Cronje said: “Up until now, the Cape Town Environmental Protection Association (CEPA) has suggested that the politicians wanted the stadium and that especially poorer people would be opposed to it.

“The research now shows not only that the majority of all Capetonians support this, but that support is the highest among the poor and unemployed.”

It comes after Cape Town Mayor Helen Zille appealed to the CEPA yesterday to reconsider its planned court action to stop construction of the stadium.

CEPA chairman Arthur Wienburg has said the organisation has no plans to cancel its scheduled August 13 court review of approvals granted by the provincial and city government.

“The proposed erection of a R4.4 billion white elephant is anti-poor, a blight on the environment, and puts political self-interest above the greater good of the wider population, the ratepayers of Cape Town. It’s time for the council to put up or shut up.”

The survey also found 52% of Capetonians believed South Africa was ready to host the 2010 World Cup.

Stadium builders plough on regardless

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By MATT MEDVED

Demolition and excavation efforts at the Green Point Stadium site continued “full throttle” over the Easter holiday weekend, despite the threat of legal action by the Cape Town Environmental Protection Association (CEPA).

Excavators were digging through the rubble of the old stadium and articulated dump trucks were hauling payloads of topsoil on the Green Point Common when the Cape Argus visited the site yesterday.

Although an application to work on Good Friday was turned down by the city out of respect for the religious holiday, work continued on Saturday and yesterday.

“Right now we are still chasing that October 2009 deadline,” said Pieter Cronje, spokesman for City 2010.

“It’s the early days of the process but we are moving full speed ahead.”

Technical project director David Hugo said he had applied for permission to work on Good Friday but the query was rejected by the city “because of the importance of the religious holiday”.

The primary focus of the current work is the excavation of the Metropolitan golf course, where the new 68 000-seat stadium will be built, as well as the diversion of bulk services to the new site. Such services include a storm drain and a larger water main for the common.

Turf from the golf course has also been removed and sold to a construction contractor.

Additionally, the partial demolition of the old Green Point stadium has started. While the contract for the complete demolition was still being finalised, a portion of the existing structure will be used as a construction yard with offices for sub-contractors and engineers on site.

“We are demolishing approximately three quarters of the stadium under an agreement with the Western Cape province,” Hugo said.

“We have commenced stripping off the roof sheeting and façade of the building.”

The next stage will be the casting of concrete for the stadium foundations. Hugo said that the city had also embarked on a public process to agree on spatial limits for the common as well as to establish an athletics facility there.

“At the moment, the full complement of workers is not on site,” Cronje said. “Once they start the construction proper, the numbers will increase.”

The construction workers work shifts from 6.30am until 5.30pm, six to seven days a week.

The work has progressed unfettered by the urgent application to the High Court that the CEPA submitted last week, to halt the building process and return the Common to its state prior to March 26, when the construction officially began.

The CEPA has asked the court to declare as unlawful the environmental record of decision (ROD) issued by the provincial Environmental Department in October, which grants approval for the stadium to be built on the Green Point Common, as well as the revised ROD by environmental MEC Tasneem Essop in January, when she dismissed appeals against the choice of site.

Robert MacDonald, spokesman for Cape Town mayor Helen Zille, said Zille would “vigorously defend the court action”.

Cronje said that the city’s lawyers were still studying the “very bulky” papers they had been served and that it was too early to tell what their course of action would be.

“One is never flippant about any legal challenge but we feel that we will oppose this action in court,” said Cronje.

“The construction must go on; it’s not just about the stadium, it’s also about all the relevant investments. We also believe that the timing of the action is unproductive because we have gone through the statutory processes over many months with public participation and appeal.

“The stadium is not a random development, but part of the development in the surrounding Waterfront and central business district and we believe it will provide a cash injection to give the Green Point Common a facelift as a new sports and recreation precinct.”

CEPA chairman Arthur Wienburg was unavailable for comment yesterday.