Chippa United will play two-thirds of their Betway Premiership games in East London this season, but the “Big Three” home games will all be hosted at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
When the final fixtures were released at the weekend, it was revealed that the Chilli Boys will travel to the Buffalo City Stadium for 10 fixtures while Gqeberha will only stage five.
However, the money-spinning home games against Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns will all be played in the Bay.
In addition, the Gqeberha side will also host Siwelele and Golden Arrows at the 2010 Fifa World Cup venue.
Chippa kick off the season against the champion Brazilians at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday (3pm).
The scheduling is a departure from the recent norm where Chippa would host seven games in East London and the other eight in Gqeberha.
Asked about Chippa’s fixturing decision, Mandela Bay Development Agency corporate services director Luvuyo Bangazi said: “We are co-operating with Chippa and NMBM as always, and our priority is for the benefit of NMB, that is, to host the most impactful games that make commercial sense at the NMB Stadium.”
In May, Chippa boss Siviwe Mpengesi said they intended to relocate the club to BCM with a satellite station remaining in Gqeberha.
However, the following month, he had a change of heart and made a U-turn on his initial plan and accused the media of “falsehoods” in a letter he sent to the municipality and the MBDA.
“While we look forward to meeting you in person shortly to take matters further, it’s important to address you urgently with regards to falsehoods that are being disseminated in the media that Chippa United FC are relocating the team,” Mpengesi wrote in the letter.
He said they acknowledged that there were challenges beyond their control related to venues.
“A quick analysis of ticket sales/attendance vs club and operator costs alone justifies why Chippa United intends to move the smaller games away and work with the MBDA to ensure that more higher category matches are played at the stadium with our assistance.”
The Chippa boss also proposed that the city hand the Wolfson Stadium over to them to bring it up to Safety at Sport and Recreation Events Act (SASSREA) compliance.
“With the above in mind, we propose that as a long-term solution, the municipality urgently facilitate the handover of control of the Wolfson Stadium, or another agreed stadium, to Chippa United for the club to renovate the venue and maintain it to PSL and SASSREA standards on the municipality’s behalf.”
He said once the Wolfson passed the PSL standard, there would not be a need for him to take the less high-profile games and Diski Challenge fixtures to East London in future.
“It would be foolish of me to abandon Gqeberha completely. It has so much potential and assisted our brand too much,” Mpengesi said at the time.
The Herald
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