Let Richards Bay play at their home base, pleads Biyela

After Richards Bay retained their Premiership status when they beat Baroka 4-0 to win the Premier Soccer League (PSL) promotion playoffs at King Zwelithini Stadium on Wednesday, chairman Jomo Biyela says the only way his side can do well in the long term is to return to their home base, Umhlathuze Sports Ground.

The Natal Rich Boyz were forced to play their home matches in Durban as their home ground in Richards Bay was not approved to host PSL games. 

The league cited issues such as inappropriate change rooms, broken ceiling panels and malfunctioning toilets as reasons to ban the stadium.

Biyela feels that was one of the reasons they struggled this past season as they had to always travel at a huge cost. 

“We need to go back to Richards Bay, that’s the first thing. As long as we are not playing in Richards Bay, we will always have challenges,” Biyela explained to the media.

“You see, if we come here (King Zwelithini Stadium), how much are we spending? We hire the venue. We come a day before we play. We book accommodation. And we don’t have a sponsor.

“So, what do you expect from us? The only thing which can help us is to play in Richards Bay.”

Biyela believes their municipality Umhlathuze is failing them. “We are waiting for the municipality to finalise everything. I’m not sure if they are interested.

“Richards Bay is not Jomo Biyela. We want this team to be owned by people of that area. All I heard was that the venue was 80% complete. When I drive there and see, I don’t think it is 80%. But I’m not an engineer and we are hoping that after this, they will take us seriously.”

Meanwhile, Biyela added that coach Vusumuzi Vilakazi will stay at the club after helping them to retain their status.

“There is no reason [not to retain him]. I think we have learnt our lessons. He has done well. He took us from 12 points to 30 with the very same players.

“Ours is to support him. We can’t chase him away now that we are safe.”