Border, Swallows clash over match-day rescheduling

The Currie Cup First Division clash between the Border Bulldogs and Leopards has been moved from Police Park to the Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane at the 11th hour due to Swallows not seeing eye to eye with the union over the match-day scheduling.

On posters issued by East London Police earlier this week, the custodians of Police Park in Cambridge indicated that the Border and Leopards game on Saturday would be the main game at 3pm, with the club match between Police and Swallows earlier, at 1pm.

Border general manager Mthunzi Hewu said Swallows disputed this proposal, stating that the Bulldogs game should instead be the curtain-raiser for the club rugby match.

“We couldn’t have a provincial game being played as curtain-raiser for a club rugby match ... that is unheard of,” Hewu said.

Contacted on Thursday, Swallows president Zuko Matyeshane said the union was at fault.

He alleged Swallows were notified of the changes on Monday evening.

“We got an email at 7pm on Monday requesting that the club game be played at 1pm on Saturday; that didn’t suit us. EL Police were told earlier about this, hence they issued a poster, but why were we told late on our side?

“We have players that work shifts in their jobs on that day.

“They said on Tuesday, after practice, when we informed them of the rescheduling of the game, it was short notice for them to inform their workplaces, and we respected that.

“The only option was to postpone the whole match.

“The union should have let us know earlier, not this week, so that we could have told our players and we could have planned accordingly,” he said.

Hewu admitted they only informed Swallows on Monday.

”We have had clubs moving their initial kick-off times during the season to accommodate the provincial team; we didn’t think there was going to be a problem,” he said.

Hewu said the root cause for the uncertainty in venue for the Bulldogs and Leopards game was when they were informed that Sisa Dukashe was unavailable.

They then informed SA Rugby of their alternative; that was Police Park.

But then it was reversed this week, with Sisa Dukashe being available.

“SA Rugby had no problem with us moving the game from Police Park to Sisa Dukashe.

“We communicated with them, and they told us as long as Leopards agreed, everything was all good.

“We spoke with the Leopards and informed them of the reasons for the venue change; they agreed,” he said.

East London Police president Bonga Mntunjani said it was a pity the double header at Police Park had to be scrapped.

“Both games being played at the same venue was going to attract loads of spectators,” he said.

The Bulldogs and Leopards game will kick off at 2.30pm at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium.

Before that, the Border U21s will play against Ocean Sweepers, at 11.45am.

The game will serve as preparation for the junior Border team ahead of the new domestic U21 provincial season.

The Bulldogs are at risk of ending yet another season without having tasted a win if they don’t beat Leopards in their last game of the year.

If that materialises in the Currie Cup first division game, it will mean that the Bulldogs have not won a competitive game since 2023 in the Mzansi Challenge.

They are coming into the game hurting after having suffered 80-plus defeats consecutively in the past two weeks away from home.

The Bulldog’s last encounter with the Leopards was in the SA Cup in March at Olen Park, where the home team won 31-14.

Daily Dispatch