Absa Premiership facing Athlone Stadium crisis

Cape Town - Premier Soccer League chief operations officer Professor Ronnie Schloss says Athlone Stadium is currently out of action ahead of the resumption of league football in Cape Town.

The soccer venue will reportedly only be ready in two months time as work is carried out to fix issues with water pumps connected to the field.

National First Division (NFD) sides Ajax Cape Town, Ubuntu Cape Town, Cape Umoya United and Stellenbosch FC are all expecting to utilise Athlone as their home ground next season, alongside Cape Town City, when the Cape Town Stadium is unavailable, along with former PSL Champions Santos, who now compete in the ABC Motsepe League.

The NFD kicks off on August 18, leaving the clubs with a real problem.

Professor Schloss told SowetanLIVE: "There are major issues with the Athlone Stadium.

"At present we don’t have a stadium to use in Cape Town outside of the Cape Town Stadium. Parow Park [used by Cape Town All Stars last season] is not compliant at the moment either. So we are talking to the council to see what we can do but there are major concerns.

"We will obviously look at it and discuss with the teams but ultimately it is up to them to find a suitable venue‚ that is not the job of the league. The venue needs to comply with our safety standards and we will ensure that."