TECHNICAL glitches, delays and a lack of communication clouded day one of the international municipal games.
The Buffalo City Metro (BCM) is hosting close to 10000 participants from various municipalities in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Zambia competing in a wide range of sporting codes.
At Jacqueline’s Pub and Grub in Nahoon, the pool games were also postponed because the venue was too small to accommodate the number of players.
The Daily Dispatch spoke to a top referee, who said match officials did not have the fixtures schedule in their possession.
They had just been “dumped” at the Jan Smuts Stadium to officiate games not knowing who is playing who.
“I’m seated here watching a game but ask me who are these teams playing, the answer is ‘I don’t know’,” said the visibly annoyed referee, who asked not to be named.
“Saying this is disorganised would be an understatement. I do not have a word to describe this.”
Member of the organising committee at Saimsa, Phesheya Gumedze, said such glitches were normal on the first day of the games.
“However the situation was further aggravated by the lack of communication,” he said. Gumedze, who was responsible for loading the fixture schedule, said late confirmation and registration by the participating municipalities was to blame for the delay in setting up the schedule.
Chairman of the local organising committee, councillor Siyabonga Jabavu blamed lack of communication on the project manager.
By the time of going to print, Gumedze said they were in meeting with BCM’s organising committee to “unblock the blockages”.
Executive director of the Border-Kei Chamber of Business, Les Holbrook said: “Inevitably when you have a tournament of such magnitude, there will be problems.
“Hopefully the organisers will work through the night and get the games on track.” — Additional reporting by Mawande Mvumvu
Municipal games fiasco
The Buffalo City Metro (BCM) is hosting close to 10000 participants from various municipalities in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Zambia competing in a wide range of sporting codes.
At Jacqueline’s Pub and Grub in Nahoon, the pool games were also postponed because the venue was too small to accommodate the number of players.
The Daily Dispatch spoke to a top referee, who said match officials did not have the fixtures schedule in their possession.
They had just been “dumped” at the Jan Smuts Stadium to officiate games not knowing who is playing who.
“I’m seated here watching a game but ask me who are these teams playing, the answer is ‘I don’t know’,” said the visibly annoyed referee, who asked not to be named.
“Saying this is disorganised would be an understatement. I do not have a word to describe this.”
Member of the organising committee at Saimsa, Phesheya Gumedze, said such glitches were normal on the first day of the games.
“However the situation was further aggravated by the lack of communication,” he said. Gumedze, who was responsible for loading the fixture schedule, said late confirmation and registration by the participating municipalities was to blame for the delay in setting up the schedule.
Chairman of the local organising committee, councillor Siyabonga Jabavu blamed lack of communication on the project manager.
By the time of going to print, Gumedze said they were in meeting with BCM’s organising committee to “unblock the blockages”.
Executive director of the Border-Kei Chamber of Business, Les Holbrook said: “Inevitably when you have a tournament of such magnitude, there will be problems.
“Hopefully the organisers will work through the night and get the games on track.” — Additional reporting by Mawande Mvumvu
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