The Du Noon Sporting Academy Team has qualified for the 2012 Castle League after defeating 27 local teams in the South African Football Association’s Cape Town Region.

Yet despite their achievements they do not have a decent football pitch to play on – the field they use is used as a dumping ground by local residents, and parts of it are dug up and carted away as building material by people making alterations to their RDP houses.

Du Noon Local Football Association chairperson Amos Siwayi said the lack of a decent home pitch is the major challenge to their participation in the R150 000 Castle League.

Du Noon Youth Sporting Academy Team Director Zolisile Seku confirmed that the digging on the field has left it riddled with holes. Household refuse, rubble, dead dogs and cats were piling up on the sides of the pitch, he said.

“It’s become a dumping site. The field is full of sand. Residents dig up the sand to use it for building their RDP houses. There is no grass,” said Seku.

He said that since his team had qualified to play in the Castle League in December last year, games were scheduled to be played on their home ground and yet, it was in such bad condition.

“Now that we are playing in Castle League we are supposed to have our own sports field. It’s not just a challenge for our team, but for the entire community,” he said.

He said the DLFA had complained to the city on numerous occasions about the conditions of the soccer field but nothing was done about it.

“If we did something wrong to the city they must tell us. We’re suffering from the sport side,” he said.

Siwayi said Castle League was more challenging and it needed a more professional approach, so a well maintained soccer field with dressing rooms and ablutions facilities was needed.

The team that wins the League will walk away with the R150 000 cash prize and will qualify for the Vodacom League then the Mvela Golden League and finally the Premier Soccer League.

He said the Du Noon Youth Sporting Academy Team was panicking because of its run down soccer field, which was also shared with two local primary schools, the Du Noon and Sophakama Primary schools, as well as 17 local football clubs.

He said the Academy would be up against well-practiced teams who had “decent” soccer fields and that it would be difficult to face them having only played on their own run down and sloppy pitch.

“You can’t even run and it’s difficult to control a ball,” he said of the soccer field.

“We have absorbed a lot of kids to keep them away from bad things. Our hope is the city will provide us with a decent pitch to produce more decent players,” he said.

Blaauwberg sub-council chairperson Heather Brenner said maintenance and management of the Du Noon soccer fields had a “problematic history” of community aggression towards the city’s efforts.

But she said R2m had been allocated for work on the fields during the 2011-12 year and further funding is being considered for the 2012-13 year.

“This money will go to the provision of a multi-purpose centre whose plans are almost ready to be presented to the community for comment. We wish the competitive teams all the best in this seasons games and will make every effort to ensure that with community cooperation the sporting facilities reflect the success of the teams,” she said. – Peter Luhanga

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Tags: 2012 Castle League