Maritzburg United supporters staged a protest against Msunduzi Municipality on Sunday at the Harry Gwala Stadium ahead of the match between Royal AM and TS Galaxy.
The Team of Choice was stripped of the Harry Gwala Stadium as their home ground after their relegation to the Motsepe Foundation Championship. Msunduzi Municipality also terminated its sponsorship agreement with Maritzburg.
The Municipality gave permission to use Harry Gwala Stadium and an R27 million sponsorship deal to Thwihli Thwahla.
Further, prior to the start of the season, both Royal AM General Manager Richard Makhoba and Maritzburg chairman Farouk Kadodia told FARPost they had agreed to share the stadium.
However, last week, there was a turnaround in the agreement between the two clubs as Royal AM wrote a letter to Maritzburg stating they had “no powers to give permission to Maritzburg United or any other club to jointly share Harry Gwala facilities”.
They said the “utilisation of the Harry Gwala facilities is sorely for Royal AM”. They also asked Maritzburg to look for both training and home ground.
MARITZBURG UNITED FANS STAGE PROTEST AGAINST MUNICIPALITY
On Sunday, a group of Maritzburg United supporters marched to the Harry Gwala Stadium to protest. They stood at the main gate holding protest boards. Some of them were written, “Why do you hate us?” and “No one owns Harry Gwala Stadium but us”.
One of the former Team of Choice fans who now supports Royal AM says being shown the exit door irked Maritzburg fans.
“What frustrated Maritzburg United fans more is to be thrown out of Harry Gwala. So, today, they were protesting, and they blocked the main gate to the stadium,” he told FARPost.
“They demanded the Municipality to explain why they are being discarded. They want a return to the Harry Gwala Stadium.”
‘NO HARMONY BETWEEN ROYAL AM AND MARITZBURG UNITED FANS’
“And there’s no harmony between Royal AM and Maritzburg United supporters,” he added.
“Some of us shifted from supporting Maritzburg to Royal AM. And we will support Royal AM as much as we can because we want to enjoy football.
“But it’s not like all Maritzburg fans have a problem with Royal AM; some of them do talk to us. But most of them, even in the stadium support the opposition of Royal AM. That’s how they show that they don’t embrace them.
“Some of us don’t have a problem, we will support a team that uses Harry Gwala.”
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