Perhaps the football public should see the glass half full, and not half empty…. and cut the Rygate LFA some slack.
At least they are creating a platform, especially for the ladies to play competitive football – albeit just for a couple of days as women footballers have not played competitive football in nearly two years due to the ongoing legal battle between Safa Western Cape and the 14 Sasol League ladies teams who fall under the banner of Safa Cape Town, which is a travesty to say the least.
This comes after the playing surface at the Johnson Road Sports Complex in Rylands came under scrutiny during the first day of the Rygate Ladies FC u.21 tournament for men and ladies.
One of the Facebook users, Brian Alcock posted: “Was present at Rygate tonight to watch the 8pm game. The playing conditions of the fields were not for soccer. Not even the A field.”
This prompted an immediate response from the Rygate LFA’s president, Abdul Tajoodien, who posed the following question. “Brian Alcock, so what do U suggest we just stop playing football and not provide sport to our communities?”
Alcock prescribed the following: “Try to improve the playing fields before the kick-off of the LFA games.”
Now, it goes without saying that Tajoodien and his crew have in the past tried their level best to perfect the playing conditions at the precinct, as the grass has been relayed on two occasions already, which indicates their seriousness to create better fields.
Bear in mind that the complex is also shared with cricket, as well as other corporates who use the complex for their football league outside the LFA season as well.
So, it’s understandable that the fields will not have ample time for the grass to settle. At one stage, the fields were also referred to as the sandpit for obvious reasons, but Tajoodien and his crew persisted to try and better the conditions.
It appears that Rygate LFA is in a Catch 22 situation, which will always divide opinion! Perhaps not playing at the complex for a whole season could be advantageous?
But then all soccer and other sport-related activities will stand still – and this is where the City of Cape Town should come to the party to invest in a much-needed astro turf or two.
