Soccer
'Fans can save SWC stadia'
2012-07-12 13:33
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Stan Matthews explains his decision to step down as the Premier Soccer League's chief executive officer.
Johannesburg - South Africans must watch less TV and more live events so stadiums used for the 2010 Soccer World Cup do not become white elephants, SA Football Association (SAFA) CEO Robin Petersen said on Thursday.
“We’ve got so much football on television that people’s lifestyles have changed,” Petersen said at The New Age business briefing in Sandton.
“People prefer to sit back and change the channel between two or three matches, rather than going to the games, so we need to change our lifestyle.”
Cape Town Stadium, which was controversially not awarded matches for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations tournament, is considered among the facilities not being used to its full advantage.
The Western Cape region of the Congress of SA Trade Unions called earlier this month for the stadium to be converted into low-cost housing, with Western Province Rugby reluctant to move from Newlands to the newly-built complex.
While some stadiums did not have resident sports teams, Petersen said the multi-million rand facilities could be utilised for other events, such as live concerts, as some already were.
People, however, were not turning up in numbers to support events, and Petersen believed that was the major concern.
“If they bring rugby to Cape Town Stadium, which is the plan, it will do very well.
“Soccer City (in Johannesburg) and the (Peter Mokaba) stadium in Polokwane are doing fine, but it's not about holding more events, it's about drawing the crowds.”