Meshack Motloung

Meshack Motloung

Kaizer Chiefs' hopes of being the first team to play at the newly renovated Rand Stadium were dashed by the Premier Soccer League, who declined their request to play at that venue at the weekend.

Amakhosi will now move their Absa Premiership game against Platinum Stars to their original venue - Olympia Park - on Saturday.

The move was taken by the league and the City of Johannesburg after reports that the stadium was not yet ready for use.

PSL chief operations officer Ronnie Schloss said construction was still in progress at the stadium and that the league and the city decided against the game being played there.

"The decision was the combination of both the City of Joburg and the PSL because of security reasons. It was going to affect the spectators' accessibility during and after the game.

"The same applies to Orlando Stadium where road works and construction will only be completed in March," he said.

Schloss said Rand Stadium will be ready sometime next year.

Chiefs' manager Bobby "Bobsteak" Motaung said yesterday that the league had a query regarding the venue that has a 28 000 seating capacity, stating that the stadium was not ready for use.

"Although the Rand Stadium is Jomo Cosmos' home ground, we'll also use it as our home ground because of the crisis regarding stadiums.

"We're not perturbed about the league's decision, and we hope that suitable venues will be allocated for us next year and there will be no problems in that regard."