SOWETAN SAYS | PSL must not sanction unplayable pitches

Over the past few weeks, there have been some high-profile PSL matches played on pitches that looked terrible and this is not a good image for our football.

The latest big match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates, hosted at Loftus Versfeld Stadium, was a case in point. The pitch looked unsuitable and had many fans asking how this top-of-the-table fixture could have been staged at the Pretoria venue.

Pirates coach Jose Riveiro fell short of directly blaming the playing conditions for his team’s 4-1 defeat, which was a correct stance given that both teams were exposed to the poor state of the field.

But we saw how players routinely slipped when chasing the ball, so much so that some had to change their boots midway through the first half. It could so easily have led to injuries.

A week before, Pirates hosted Kaizer Chiefs at FNB Stadium which, though not as bad as Loftus, also didn’t look as pristine as we are accustomed to.

The Soweto derby, won by Pirates 1-0, won’t be remembered as a classic simply because there weren’t a lot of scoring chances and flowing football, partly due to the compromised pitch which did not recover from the battering it received when US musician Chris Brown attracted sold-out crowds at the venue for two nights in a row in December.

Loftus, on the other hand, is used by the Bulls, the rugby side, meaning it takes a hammering which doesn’t allow it to be rehabilitated in time. We call on the PSL to ensure the Pretoria venue doesn’t host league matches until it is fit to do so.

We have noticed that this week’s Nedbank Cup match, where Sundowns are taking on lower-league team Mpheni Home Defenders, has since been shifted to Lucas Moripe Stadium. There are other high-profile fixtures pencilled for Loftus in the upcoming weeks, such as the March 1 Downs v Chiefs match. We hope by that time, the pitch will be ready, though there’s a possibility of the match being moved anyway because of a rugby match on the same day.

Another stadium that hasn’t looked great is the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane. It has also not recovered from a concert hosted by popular musician Makhadzi in December. But authorities assured us this week it would be ready to host Bafana Bafana’s World Cup qualifier against Lesotho on March 21.

All three stadiums which have looked like cows' grazing fields hosted World Cup 2010. There’s no reason they should not be maintained to meet acceptable standards for local games.