THOHOYANDOU – The managing director of Black Leopards Football Club, Mr David Thidiela, has dismissed the report by a Sunday newspaper that he intends relocating the team to Rustenburg as “blue lies”.

In the report, it was indicated that Thidiela was threatening to move the team out of the province if the local municipality insists that they pay a non-refundable R600 each time they play at home. The report further stated that Thidiela was not prepared to pay the municipality anything more than the 15 % gate-takings fee that it is entitled to. He reiterated that the team will never move out of the province as it belongs to the people of Limpopo and Thohoyandou in particular.

He acknowledged, however, that they had approached the Thulamela Municipality regarding the newly passed bylaw, which states that any person or organisation who wishes to utilize the stadium for commercial reasons must pay an amount of R600 in advance. According to him, the aim of approaching the municipality was to try and persuade them to exempt the club from paying the R600 booking fee on the basis that the Thohoyandou Stadium is their home ground.

He stated that they had held several meetings with the municipality and that indications were that they were going to win the battle. “At no stage did I mention that we would relocate the team to Rustenburg if the municipality remained rigid as mentioned in the false report,” he said.

Ironically, the stadium which Thidiela is said to be threatening to relocate the team to, the Olympia Stadium in Rustenburg, is also controlled by a local municipality which also charges a certain fee for the utilization of the stadium.

Thidiela further stated that taking the team to Rustenburg would be as bad as selling it, as the local community would not be benefiting anything from its existence.