Saracens have been forced to move their Heineken Cup match against Biarritz in Cape Town from the new Cape Town Stadium to Newlands which is home to Western Province Rugby.
Saracens and the city of Cape Town announced last week that the English Premiership club will play their Heineken Cup match against Biarritz Olympique at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday January 14th, 2012.
However, the Western Province Rugby Football Union Executive Committee have ruled that the match must be played in their stadium at Newlands
According to the South African Rugby Union Constitution the final decision regarding the match venue lies in the hands of the host union which in this case is apparently Western Province and not Saracens.
The move is an enormous blow for the City of Cape Town and the Cape Town Stadium which was built for the Football world cup but has become a financial burden on the city.
The City of Cape Town had been in talks with the Western Province Rugby Football Union and their Super Rugby franchise over a move to the new stadium but with the announcement of the Heineken Cup match being moved but that appears to have been killed off.
A statement from Western Province added that, “Newlands is currently the home of rugby in the Western Province, and will be treated as such for the foreseeable future.”
“The WPRFU hopes to end speculation of the move to The Cape Town stadium. There is currently no intention to move WP Rugby to the Cape Town stadium,” the statement added.
Newlands, which first hosted an official match in 1890, currently holds 45,000 fans, while the new Cape Town Stadium, a host venue for the 2010 Fifa World Cup, has a capacity of 55,000.
The home of WP rugby, however, boasts 300 hospitality suites in comparison to 100 at the newly built venue.
The Cape Town Stadium, which will reportedly cost taxpayers R44.6 million this financial year, has been used sparingly since the country hosted the global football showpiece in June and July 2010.
Premiership soccer team Ajax Cape Town have played nine league games at the stadium this year.
Tickets for the Heineken Cup event’s old venue of Cape Town stadium have been on sale for almost a week by “Computicket”.
my vraag is wat het die game met wp te make?as ek sarries is vee ek my gat af aan wp en gaan voort met die reelings,sover ek weet het wp geen se oor sarries nie,dis nou net so goed hulle se u2 mag net op nuweland konsert hou.
Die WP is die tuisunie. Hulle bied die wedstryd aan. Kan besluit waar dit gespeel mag word. Maklik.
Maar ek stem nie saam met hulle nie, wens hulle kan Nuweland sloop. In vergelyking met Cape Town Stadium is dit flokken vuil, beknop en ‘n moerse mission om daar-in en uit te kom. En iemand wat se Nuweland het meer van ‘n atmosfeer was nog nie in CTS nie.
@ Rugbyprof:
waarom het jy wp nodig om die game aan te bied? Dis nie asof jy enige iets van hulle gebruik nie,dis maar toevallig dat die game in die kaap is dit kon net sowel in abu dabi gewees het
WPRU never cease to amaze me. I really don’t understand what goes on in those meetings really, and whether they have the interests of the players and fans at heart, or whether they are just trying to line their own pockets. As soon as they saw there was some profit to be made, they pull out the “I’m in charge” card, try to use the old corporate box trick and Wham Bam, Thank you Mam, it’s at our place. Short sighted really isn’t the way to describe this one. The tickets were on sale for R80 per ticket for the Cape Town Stadium, it would have pulled a much more diverse crowd, probably attracted a few non rugby supporters with the fan walk, etc. With the way the WPRU have been leaking their top players, trying to hold onto a few has beens, and riding rough shot over Cape Town Municipality and Saracens with this one, i would venture that they are in serious financial difficulties, and are now grasping at straws. My predictions are that Stormers/WP rugby will go backwards from this season onwards, and we will shortly be where the Lions were 2 years ago. The difference with the WPRU and the Lions is that I don’t think that there is anyone at WPRU capable of pulling them out of this mess! I agree with another comment I read somewhere, I hope that Johan Rupert and Saracens take legal action on this one if it is possible.
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