Ramatsiyi Moholoa
Ramatsiyi Moholoa
The Absa Premiership match between Orlando Pirates and Thanda Royal Zulu at the rebuilt Orlando Stadium on Saturday has been rescheduled from 3pm to 8pm.
This has been done to accommodate South Africans who want to follow proceedings in Sandton where the draw for the 2009 Confederations Cup will take place.
Saturday's match has already generated a lot of interest from Sowetans as the stadium will host its first official soccer game since it was rebuilt.
One of the biggest drawcards on that historic day will be Pirates' new recruit, Siphelele "Scara" Mthembu, who has been training with the team for two weeks now. The player is the subject of a long tug-of-war with Kaizer Chiefs.
Pirates and Moroka Swallows had planned a double-header but their plans were shelved due to live television coverage challenges. Swallows will now host Platinum Stars at the same venue on Sunday.
Irvin Khoza, chairman of Pirates, said: "For us, it will be an emotional return to that stadium, which has always been our spiritual home. Everybody is looking forward to seeing the club playing back at home.
" The most important thing is to make The Ghost [Pirates supporters] happy at the end of the day."
Khoza said they were inundated with requests from some of the Pirates legends who want to be part of the big occasion on Saturday.
"We are working hard to see how best we can accommodate them, all the stalwarts like Ma- Setlogelo and Ma-Mali will also be with us on the day.
"We are also going to have our members who used to watch the games at 'Congo', a site next to the gate of the old Orlando Stadium.
"That's were all the 'clevers' used to watch our games; we really want to reach out to everybody who is associated with Orlando Pirates.
"We are talking about people like Steve Dlamini, Hitler [James Sobi], Shakes Tshabalala, Isaac Chirwa, Toy Ramosa, Milton Nkosi and Mandla Sithole."
The City of Johannesburg, whose mayor Amos Masondo will conduct the opening of Orlando Stadium, has also lined up a game for legends.
They will include McDonald "Rhee' Skosana, Finky "Mathousand" Sekete, John "Buick" Makwati, Brian Tlale, Rudolf "Gardner" Seale, James "Musicman" Mahlangu and Simon "Ox" Mahlangu.
Tickets for the match are available for R20 for adults and R10 for juveniles at Computicket outlets.
For suite tickets, phone Pirates offices on 011)-484-2084. Suite tickets are available from Pirates.
bucs happy to be home
Ramatsiyi Moholoa
Ramatsiyi Moholoa
The Absa Premiership match between Orlando Pirates and Thanda Royal Zulu at the rebuilt Orlando Stadium on Saturday has been rescheduled from 3pm to 8pm.
This has been done to accommodate South Africans who want to follow proceedings in Sandton where the draw for the 2009 Confederations Cup will take place.
Saturday's match has already generated a lot of interest from Sowetans as the stadium will host its first official soccer game since it was rebuilt.
One of the biggest drawcards on that historic day will be Pirates' new recruit, Siphelele "Scara" Mthembu, who has been training with the team for two weeks now. The player is the subject of a long tug-of-war with Kaizer Chiefs.
Pirates and Moroka Swallows had planned a double-header but their plans were shelved due to live television coverage challenges. Swallows will now host Platinum Stars at the same venue on Sunday.
Irvin Khoza, chairman of Pirates, said: "For us, it will be an emotional return to that stadium, which has always been our spiritual home. Everybody is looking forward to seeing the club playing back at home.
" The most important thing is to make The Ghost [Pirates supporters] happy at the end of the day."
Khoza said they were inundated with requests from some of the Pirates legends who want to be part of the big occasion on Saturday.
"We are working hard to see how best we can accommodate them, all the stalwarts like Ma- Setlogelo and Ma-Mali will also be with us on the day.
"We are also going to have our members who used to watch the games at 'Congo', a site next to the gate of the old Orlando Stadium.
"That's were all the 'clevers' used to watch our games; we really want to reach out to everybody who is associated with Orlando Pirates.
"We are talking about people like Steve Dlamini, Hitler [James Sobi], Shakes Tshabalala, Isaac Chirwa, Toy Ramosa, Milton Nkosi and Mandla Sithole."
The City of Johannesburg, whose mayor Amos Masondo will conduct the opening of Orlando Stadium, has also lined up a game for legends.
They will include McDonald "Rhee' Skosana, Finky "Mathousand" Sekete, John "Buick" Makwati, Brian Tlale, Rudolf "Gardner" Seale, James "Musicman" Mahlangu and Simon "Ox" Mahlangu.
Tickets for the match are available for R20 for adults and R10 for juveniles at Computicket outlets.
For suite tickets, phone Pirates offices on 011)-484-2084. Suite tickets are available from Pirates.
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