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Gallo<\/p>\n
The pitch at Durbans Moses Mabhida Stadium was flooded by torrential rain during the Nedbank Cup last 32 match between AmaZulu and Ajax Cape Town, calling an abrupt end to the match. \tPicture: Gallo Images<\/p>\n
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Drainage at Durban\u2019s Moses Mabhida Stadium has been criticised after the match between Ajax Cape Town and Amazulu had to be abandoned in Sunday\u2019s torrential rain. <\/p>\n
Monday night\u2019s draw for the round of 16 of the Nedbank Cup had 17 teams because during the second half of the match conditions became unplayable. Ajax was in the lead 2\u20131 with 14 minutes left. <\/p>\n
The match is scheduled to be replayed at KwaMashu\u2019s Princess Magogo Stadium at 7.30pm on Tuesday night. <\/p>\n
Vuma Mfeka, a soccer analyst, and former Amazulu FC goalkeeper said the flooding had raised questions about the stadium\u2019 s drainage system. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was at the grounds before the Fifa World Cup in 2010 and they kept digging and digging,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI could see that this would be a problem in the future. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are lucky that we did not experience that type of rainfall during the World Cup because it would have been an embarrassment.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mfeka said he had played at many soccer grounds during his time as a professional player. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened on Sunday is very dangerous and it\u2019s unfair. This is supposed to be a state-of-the-art stadium yet it can\u2019t handle rain. Ajax as a team and their fans must be disappointed and disheartened.\u201d <\/p>\n
He added that the drainage systems of stadiums like Umlazi\u2019s King Goodwill Zwelithini could handle rain. <\/p>\n
The stadium\u2019s general manager, Imraan Mahomed, issued a statement on Moday, saying the rainfall was so heavy that some members of the media had not been able to read the players\u2019 numbers from their seats. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs the downfall got worse players struggled to see or keep their balance. With 14 minutes to go, the referee suspended play to consult the match officials and stadium management on the weather conditions,\u201d said Mohamed. <\/p>\n
He said the sand-based pitch was designed to drain, with the water flowing outwards away from the playing surface. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe drainage is designed and specified in accordance with international design standards for Fifa-approved pitches,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cUnder extremely heavy rain, play may be suspended for safety reasons and resuming play is dependent on the length of time of the high intensity rainfall and the match competition rules.\u201d <\/p>\n
Asked how the stadium could prevent Sunday\u2019s incident from happening again, he said: \u201cWe cannot control the weather.\u201d <\/p>\n
On Twitter, Carol Tshabalala said: \u201cDrainage system at Moses Mabhida Stadium is bad.\u201d Meanwhile @Superjourno posted: \u201cMoses Mabhida drainage system is a shocker.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ajax spokesman Thabiso \u201cShoes\u201d Meketu said it was \u201cone of those things that cannot be controlled\u201d. <\/p>\n
Meketu said complaining would not help. \u201cWe would have loved to close down the game and win\u2026 It appeared that the drainage could not handle the amount of water.\u201d <\/p>\n
Phil Russell, a cricket groundsman who worked at the stadium, said the facility was state of the art and the water and rainfall must have been \u201cexceptional\u201d to stop the game. – The Mercury <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gallo The pitch at Durbans Moses Mabhida Stadium was flooded by torrential rain during the Nedbank Cup last 32 match between AmaZulu and Ajax Cape Town, calling an abrupt end to the match. Picture: Gallo Images Drainage at Durban\u2019s Moses Mabhida Stadium has been criticised after the match between Ajax Cape Town and Amazulu had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-8869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}