All Stars coach Sinethemba Badela admits that not having a regular home venue for their matches is a bit frustrating.
The Motsepe Foundation Championship side, former Cape Town All Stars, moved their base from the Mother City to Gauteng at the beginning of the season.
This was to save costs in terms of travelling as the majority of the teams are based inland than Coastal, where they were based.
Although the club has done fairly well in terms of the results, it is the issue of finding a permanent home that frustrates them.
ALL STARS NEED A HOME
So far, they have played some matches at Bidvest Stadium in Johannesburg and Giant Stadium in Pretoria.
“I think that question should be directed to the management. I know they are trying, but it’s very difficult to find facilities at the moment,” said Badela when asked about the situation.
“But it’s also frustrating for the team because we need a home. We need to settle somewhere. We have played two games at Bidvest. We played two games at Giant.
“So we need to settle down now and find a home that we know is our home games, and we make that place a fortress,” he said.
ON HOW MOVING FROM CAPE TOWN BENEFITED THEM
“It’s much easier for us to travel. This trip [to Polokwane] becomes three and a half hours, whereas when we were in Cape Town, a trip like this becomes six or seven hours. So it’s a little bit easier for us to travel, but the start and the quality that you see from the team have nothing to do with the move.
“It has to do with the quality of the players that we have assembled. I think we have a fantastic team. It’s still a new team, of course. We tried combinations the first five games, and we could see, but I think now we are sort of settling to our best 11,” added Badela.
FIFA WORLD CUP BREAK
“So during this break, we will use that to work a little bit harder, to integrate the other players. Because if you remember, we have players that came to us a little bit late in pre-season, so they had to understand the game model, and we had to get them fit. Now we think players are understanding. Now it’s just to take them to the next level.”
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