Sporting crown jewel once a crowd-pulling venue

CHATSWORTH Stadium is easily the crown jewel among the sporting facilities of this south Durban suburb.

The 35-year-old venue, best known for drawing thousands of fans to football matches, is the focus of this week’s Then and Now feature.

However, the stadium has lost some of its lustre and its crowd-pulling powers, more so in recent years.

Those who have intimate knowledge of the facility, particularly in its heydays, ascribe the decline to the relegation of Manning Rangers from the Premier Soccer League in 2004/05 football season and into oblivion.

Rangers made the venue their home ground in about 1990 and received partisan support from locals, who would show up in their thousands on match days.

Some Rangers fixtures had the venue filled to the brim, usually when they clashed with Kaizer Chiefs or Orlando Pirates.

Their “friendly” duel with English Premiership team Manchester City in 1994 was also a sellout.

Another notable occasion when thousands thronged there for a football match was when Pirates took on Ajax Cape Town in the Telkom Knockout Cup final in December 2008.

That’s because all the major stadiums around the country were being readied for the 2010 World Cup.

The stadium opened in 1989 with a football field, an athletics track and a grandstand to seat about 2 000 people.

The venue’s capacity was increased to 30 000 in the latter part of the 1990s, after the main grandstand was extended and an open stand erected on the opposite side.

That was apparently thanks to the crowds Rangers attracted.

There was divided opinion on how the stadium’s construction and improvements were paid for.

Some maintain it was funded completely by the municipality, while others believe a special surcharge was included in the utilities bills of residents from Chatsworth and surrounding areas particularly for this purpose.

After the stadium, a swimming pool, cricket oval, tennis courts and bowling green sprouted in the sports precinct.

Schools athletics meetings, religious and cultural events, and the ABH and Chatsworth Child Welfare fairs were some of the other attractions at the stadium.

The funeral of well-known Chatsworth politician Amichand Rajbansi, whose home was a stone’s throw away, was held there on December 31, 2011.

Danny Reddy was well acquainted with all the goings on at the stadium for nearly 30 years. He was appointed groundsman in 1990 and as the other facilities were added to the sports complex, they were placed in his care.

He retired in October 2018.

Mike Oxlane, a municipal horticulturist from the Chatsworth depot, oversaw the initial functioning of the venue before Reddy’s appointment.

Reddy served the SA Navy for 16 years as an instructor, who also managed the sporting facilities at their Salisbury Island base.

The military service’s restructure at the time resulted in Reddy being among the 3 000 workers who were retrenched.

But Reddy walked into the stadium position two weeks later after the municipality learnt of his credentials in an interview.

“I was excited about the position.

“At the navy, I was the physical training instructor. I ran the sports activities, managed the gym and all the other sporting facilities for squash, football, rugby and cricket.”

Once he settled in Chatsworth, he and his team established the stadium as a well run facility. Its “slick” surface won Reddy much praise from football officials whose teams played there, including Manning Rangers’ coach, Gordon Igesund, who led the team to the inaugural PSL title in the 1996/97 season.

“We used cynodon (dactylon) grass: our good surface was purely down to good maintenance, which meant constant attention. Fertilising once a month and regular watering.

“Having a good irrigation system helped us in winter.”

Reddy said there were numerous big events that were memorable.

“Sometimes we had school sports in the morning and big football matches under lights in the evening. The PSL had strict standards for match venues. Their match commissioners knew our stadium’s condition was always top notch.”

Reddy singled out some of the Rangers/Chiefs matches as being most “memorable”.

“Every corner of the stadium would be filled with supporters. The game against Manchester City was also a big game and their officials were also pleased with our surface.

“The Telkom Cup final was a huge test for my team and I. We managed to deliver an excellent event.”

During big games he always hovered near the entrance to the change rooms to be on hand to deal with any snags.

Other memorable happenings for Reddy was the visit of Nelson Mandela and Indian preacher Padma Moodliar, who prayed for him and his team.

“We once had a drum majorettes national championship that ran for a week at the football field and cricket oval. I heard that the organisers were sceptical about coming, thinking it might be a dust bowl, but they were full of compliments when they got here.

“Usually, ahead of Jehovah Witnesses events they sent their own cleaning team to venues, but they had nothing to do here.”

He said regardless of the size of gatherings, they respected each event and were helpful, planned and executed their duties well.

“We were always thanked by officials afterwards,” said Reddy.

Igesund appreciated the fans who supported Rangers and Reddy and his team for their contributions.

“Danny always prepared a magnificent field,” said Igesund.

Selvan Moodley from the Chatsworth Concerned Citizens group said they were cognisant of the work done by Reddy’s team previously, but said the stadium was no longer in tip-top condition.

Moodley said some of the challenges were not created by the new grounds team, but were caused by budget constraints and criminal activity.