Leopards ready to move to Saselamani Stadium

The PSL will make a final decision on Thursday on whether both the Malamulele and Saselamani stadiums are suitable for PSL games.

PSL senior official Professor Ronnie Schloss concluded the final assessment at the Saselamani and Malamulele stadiums on 26 January.

The Glad Africa side, Black Leopards, have previously indicated that they wanted to register one of these grounds as their home ground. Leopards moved their home matches away from the Thohoyandou stadium, following a dispute with the municipality about the high rent charged for local teams. The teams complained about the R27 795 charged per match to use this stadium. Black Leopards then opted to move to the Old Peter Mokaba stadium, where the rent is only R5 000 per match.

Leopards announced their intention of moving the club’s training base and matches from Polokwane to Malamulele late last year.

Leopards hosted eight of their opening matches of the 2021/22 season at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium. Leopards relocated to Malamulele in January after they had signed a mutual agreement with the Collins Chabane Municipality to use the two stadiums.

PSL senior official Ronnie Schloss interacted with Black Leopards officials and representatives of the Collins Chabane Municipality during the final assessment of the Malamulele and Saselamani Stadium.

Earlier this week, Leopard’s spokesperson, Divhambele Mbalavhali, said that they were anticipating a positive report from the PSL. He was optimistic that Leopards would soon start playing matches at Saselamani.

Collins Chabane municipality’s spokesperson, Robert Mathye, said that they had tried by all means to revamp the stadium to enable it to host PSL games. “We have tried to resolve the outstanding issues since we have been given the instruction by the PSL, but we hope that when the league activities resume, the matches will be played here at Saselamani stadium,” he said.

Mathye said that the stadium could comfortably accommodate 15 000 people. A new pavilion was recently completed at the stadium.

The first home match of the year for Leopards will be against Cape Town All Stars on 23 February.

Date:03 February 2022

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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