Tukkies docked two home games
5 Feb 2009
Tukkies have lost the right to host two Varsity Cup home games due to sub-standard floodlights.
The University of Cape Town were unable to host last year’s final as the lights at Groote Schuur were deemed inadequate for live television broadcasting. The game was moved to Danie Craven Stadium where Stellenbosch eventually took the spoils in a tightly-contested affair.
Now Tukkies have been docked the home games against TUT on 16 February and Maties on 16 March. Both fixtures will take place at the opposition.
“Unfortunately Tukkies’ lights do not meet the requirements for televised night matches,” said Varsity Cup Managing Director Duitser Bosman. “They had assured us they would upgrade their lights for this season, but broadcasters SuperSport are not happy with the state of their lights.
“A club like UCT had pre-warned us that they needed earlier kick-off times for their televised games this season, so we’ve been able to plan for that, but at this late juncture, with the television slots already booked, we had no alternative but to move the games away from Tukkies.”
Should Tukkies qualify for the 2009 final they would suffer the same fate as UCT in 2008. Club Manager Gert van Coller told www.varsitycup.co.za that he was “very disappointed” with the ruling, but he explained the situation, saying: “We had plans in place to upgrade our lighting facilities, but a short-term fix would’ve cost us R2-million just for this season.
“But long-term we would still have had a problem, which would have cost another R9-million to fix, so, instead we’ve been forced to look at making sure our lights are of the required standard come the 2010 competition.”
8 Comments
5 Feb 2009, 15:49 pm
Dragons!!!!!!!!!!!!
5 Feb 2009, 16:08 pm
blind one!
5 Feb 2009, 16:42 pm
Well there’s a stadium just down the road from Tukkies that is more than adequate for broadcasting purposes. Why not just move it to Loftus?
5 Feb 2009, 16:46 pm
#3 Tacitus: Can’t see the Cape prima donnas agreeing to something as simple as that. TUT is not too far away so support shouldn’t be a problem, but to have to play a “home” game in Stellenbosch can’t be fun.
5 Feb 2009, 17:26 pm
#4 Scrumdown: What does this have to do with the “Cape prima donnas”? Stellenbosch is an honorary suburb of Pretoria.
5 Feb 2009, 17:48 pm
#4 Scrumdown:
Why blame the “Cape Prima donnas” if a once proud institution like UP does no longer have up to standard flood lights at their rugby stadium.
6 Feb 2009, 06:57 am
Tukkies facilities are still beter than that of most provincial stadiums in nz…
6 Feb 2009, 08:37 am
This is not good enough. LC is one of the best places to be in Pretoria. Mr Coller when can we expect this problem to be solved? We deserve to attend our home games. So Tukkies get your act together and quickly!!!!!!! Stop being so bloody useless.
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