Nelson Mandela Bay gets another test run

PORT Elizabeth’s Nelson Mandela Bay is preparing for another test run when the World Cup venue hosts the domestic premiership match between Cape side Santos and Kaizer Chiefs tomorrow night, writes Mninawa Ntloko.

The Mother City is experiencing a stadium shortage — the pitches at Newlands, Athlone and Coetzenburg stadiums are being repaired — and Cape Town’s loss was Port Elizabeth’s gain.

Nelson Mandela Bay 2010 director Errol Heyns said they were happy to get another chance to test the R2,2bn venue after identifying problems when the city hosted the friendly international between Bafana Bafana and Japan at the weekend.

“Danny Jordaan (the CEO of the 2010 Soccer World Cup organising committee) gave us an eight out of 10 after hosting the Japan-Bafana match,” Heyns said yesterday.

“But I would say, realistically speaking, perhaps he should have given us a seven because there were some things that he did not see.

“We felt that our road signage outside the stadium was not what it should have been and many people were left confused. “The area around the stadium is still under construction and the roads are being built.

“This could have led people who were not familiar with the surroundings to get lost and go where they were not supposed to.”

Heyns said it was also thought the security was not fully equipped to handle the nearly 50000 supporters who descended on the venue, as they were not trained properly.

But Heyns said the improvements were vast from a few months ago, when complaints were issued after Chiefs played Orlando Pirates at the venue in July.

“So although we had a very short time to plan for this game (seven days), we tried our best to make the event a success,” he said.