Goal50 United should take a leaf out of Junction Rovers’ book by ensuring they deploy security or have a (SAPS) police presence at their Heidveld home ground when hosting visiting teams.
This follows another shouting incident that occurred during the Hollywoodbets Third Division game between Goal50 and the visitors from the Atlantic Seaboard Camps Bay at the Heideveld Sports Complex on Friday evening.
Goal50 won the game 1-0 via a Cole Goliath goal but the big talking point was the shots that were fired with half an hour of playing time left on the clock.
The shooting lasted for a couple of minutes but forced the players and match officials to lie down flat on their stomachs on the astro turf.
“To be quite honest we didn’t want to come back for the last 30 minutes,” Camps Bay assistant coach Ashraf Calvert told No Bones with Jones.
“The game was stopped for seven to 10 minutes and thereafter the referee asked the captains what they wanted to do. This message was relayed to both technical teams and because the shooting stopped both teams mutually agreed to finish the match,” Calvert added.
Calvert stated that he is well aware of the gang violence around the Cape Flats and holds no grudges or ill feelings towards the opposition.
“What makes matters worse is that the flats are right next to the field,” Calvert further added. “But you know what they say about a stray bullet, it has no name on it and from that point of view we needed to take evasive action,” Calvert concluded.
Goal50’s neighbouring team from the ABC Motsepe League, Junction, has found a method of ensuring the safety of visiting teams and spectators with the help of SAPS.
This comes after similar incidents threatened to tarnish and derail the Second Division’s reputation due to the gang violence in the Heideveld-area.
Junction’s chairman Dawood Johannes has made it clear that no scheduled fixture of theirs will go-ahead without the presence and visibility of the SAPS.
Neither Goal50’s manager Niven Scott or head coach Lorenzo Schoeman was available for comment.
Goal50 will most likely be advised to submit a security plan to Safa Cape Town’s Head of competitions department to ensure that they don’t get deprived of hosting games on Friday evenings.
