Tukkies lose two home matches
Tukkies have lost the right to host two of their home matches in the 2009 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International because their floodlights are not up to the required standard for live broadcasting.
Varsity Cup tournament regulations state that all universities need to have sufficient lighting for home televised matches – that are played at night – and they have now lost the right to host matches against TUT on February 16 and the Maties a month later on March 16.
Both matches will still kick-off at 6.45pm, but will now take place at the TUT Stadium (v TUT February 16) and the Danie Craven Stadium (v Maties March 16), instead.
“Unfortunately Tukkies’ lights do not meet the requirements for televised night matches,” said Varsity Cup Managing Director Duitser Bosman. “They had assured us they would upgrade their lights for this season, but broadcasters SuperSport are not happy with the state of their lights.
“A club like UCT had pre-warned us that they needed earlier kick-off times for their televised games this season, so we’ve been able to plan for that, but at this late juncture, with the television slots already booked, we had no alternative but to move the games away from Tukkies.”
Last season UCT lost the right to host the inaugural Varsity Cup Final because of poor lighting and Bosman warned that a club like Tukkies ran a similar risk this year.
“If Tukkies or UCT were to end top of the log and thereby stand to host a final, for instance, they would not be able to, as their lights are not good enough to host televised, late kick-off games,” said Bosman.
“In that case, as per the pre-agreed rules and regulations of the Varsity Cup, the hosting of the match would go to the team placed second on the log.”
As things stand now, Tukkies will have just one home game in the 2009 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International; against UCT on Monday, February 23.
Tukkies Club Manager Gert van Coller told www.varsitycup.co.za that he was “very disappointed” with the ruling, but he explained the situation, saying: “We had plans in place to upgrade our lighting facilities, but a short-term fix would’ve cost us R2-million just for this season.
“But long-term we would still have had a problem, which would have cost another R9-million (on top of that) to fix, so, instead we’ve been forced to look at making sure our lights are of the required standard come the 2010 competition.”
Speaking about the tournament thus far, which saw his team claim a hard-fought 29-27 opening-day win over Pukke, Van Coller added: “This really is a tough competition, there are some fantastic teams playing in the Varsity Cup.
“We’re obviously delighted with our start; winning away against Pukke. Away wins are what keep you at the top of the log and now that we’ve got an extra two away games on our schedule we need to keep up our away form throughout.”
