Stellenbosch game against Sundowns moved

A pitch invasion and broken fences around the Danie Craven Stadium after the Nedbank Cup semifinal against Mamelodi Sundowns earlier this month has led to Stellenbosch moving the venue for their return meeting in the DStv Premiership to the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday, club officials said on Tuesday.

A capacity 12 000 crowd in Stellenbosch proved too much for security to handle when Sundowns edged the home team 2-1 in their cup tie on May 5 and the club requested permission to move Saturday’s league clash against the champions to the larger venue in Cape Town, which has a capacity of 34 000.

Coincidently, it was at the Athlone Stadium that Sundowns last lost a match against domestic opposition, beaten 2-1 in last year’s Nedbank Cup quarterfinal by Stellenbosch.

Since then, Sundowns have played 40 league and cup matches against South African opposition without defeat. They meet Royal AM away in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday in catch-up fixture in the DStv Premiership before heading to Cape Town to take on Steve Barker’s side, who sit second in the league standings.