Royal AM boss Shauwn Mkhize is pondering to play a few home matches in Bloemfontein, but that will be provided if the government does agree to the idea.
MaMkhize feels she owes the people of Bloemfontein, after buying Bloemfontein Celtic’s premier division status at the beginning of last season.
When she bought the status of the club which ultimately ended Celtic’s existence and was met with sadness from football at large, as they were one of the old clubs in the PSL and recently reached two cup finals in the year of 2020.
This led to the club home venues – Dr Molemela Stadium and Toyota Stadium at risk of becoming so called ‘white elephants’. However, Toyota Stadium is active as rugby franchise, with the Toyota Cheetahs using the venue for Currie Cup and Vodacom Rugby Championship matches. However, the former has become a white elephant since Celtic was sold.
It is why MaMkhize accepted the invitation to play in the Macufe Cup over the weekend, beating Kaizer Chiefs on penalties in the game that was played at Toyota Stadium. The venue was almost filled to capacity, with Celtic fans singing Siwelele songs.
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“I owe it to the people from Bloemfontein to play games here. I was speaking to the MEC (Limakatso Patricia Mahase) just now and saying to her, ‘they must bring talks [for Royal AM to play games here]’ and I feel like the stadium is too big and has become a white elephant,” MaMkhize told iDiski Times.
“We will bring some games if they ask. As much as Royal AM is from KwaZulu-Natal, our roots come from here. If the Bloemfontein sports department does give us an opportunity to play again here, we will.
“So we feel like we owe it to the people of Bloemfontein to give them the fun and the entertainment, and Kaizer Chiefs and us gave them the entertainment that they need.”
MaMkhize also feels by doing so the people from Bloemfontein will finally forgive and accept her decision to buy the club as she was pursuing her dream.
“It’s an incredible moment. You can see the support here was balanced,” she said.
“Because we had supporters on the other side. It felt like people in Bloemfontein still regard us as their family and we appreciate that. We can assure them that they are one of us. They are Royal Celtic.”
The last time Toyota Stadium hosted a PSL match was when Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM) won the Nedbank Cup, beating Chippa United 1-0 in May last year.
Story by Robin-Duke Madlala (@duke_robin).
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