Tuesday, February 11, 2025
HomeBetway PremiershipCT City Explain Players' Cards Theft

CT City Explain Players’ Cards Theft

Cape Town City has explained what happened before their match against Maritzburg United on Wednesday, where the team’s players’ cards were stolen in a break-in hours before kickoff.

In a week of controversy, City were dealt a blow when team manager Moenier Davids’ car was broken into two hours before the game, and all his belongings, including the players’ cards were stolen.

This led to the match being played under protest by Maritzburg, as there is a ‘no cards, no play’ rule in the NSL handbook, but the match went ahead, with City going on to win the game 3-2.

City’s Media and Communications Officer Julian Bailey explained to iDiski Times what happened, and how they attempted to resolve the issue…

“So the break-in happened around about two hours before kickoff,” Bailey said.

“Our team manager was in his personal car, he stopped off at the Spar opposite the stadium to buy a few things that the players needed.

“So he went inside the store, the car was locked, he had all his belongings in there, his laptop, a printer, everything he basically normally brings to the stadium. Among those things were the players’ cards, and the team sheet for the match, all the documents we needed, and ja, they broke into his car.

“Afterwards we looked at the footage from the store, and it shows clearly that there was a break-in, they left with all of his bags, all of his belongings.

“So ja, we obviously made the match officials aware of this, we made the opponents aware of it. And we showed them the video footage as well. We also got a police affidavit just to confirm it.

“So the players were not aware of that. We tried our best to keep it away from them so that they continue to focus on preparing for the game.

“So ja, they, the players definitely didn’t notice anything up until maybe just before the warm-up when the usual protocol is that they should do a card check and produce their match jersey to the fourth official and representative from the opposition. When that didn’t happen they started asking questions. But we obviously just shifted their attention back to the warm-up and got them out on the field to get ready.”

“So after that, it was a big debate between us and the away team, Maritzburg. United, who obviously decided to play under protest. But we managed to get our documentation together very quickly, we got a copy of each card, which we had at our offices, we got someone to bring that to the stadium, we printed new team sheets, we printed all the documentation that we needed, and it was submitted to the match commissioner.

“So the game could go ahead, as planned. There were some doubts [about] whether the game would be played or not, but in the end, we managed to find a solution, and we sought help from the PSL who gave us the necessary guidance.

“And they acted swiftly and spoke to us as well as the opposition, as well as the match officials, and ja, at the end of the day, we were happy that the match could go ahead and we won it at the end of the day, so it turned out okay.

“We don’t have any idea as to who could have done it and why it was done. But you know, these things happen it’s happened before, not to us but we’ve been involved where this happened to our opponents.”

The club is now in the process of replacing the cards with the league.

“So we’ve already started the process of getting new cards made by the PSL,” Bailey continued. “They are working on it today and will be sending it to us by latest tomorrow, Thursday.

“So we’ll be ready to go again on Saturday when we face Baroka. All our affairs will be in order for that match.

“And ja, I’ll keep the cards and the team sheets under lock and key this time, so that we don’t find ourselves in a situation like this again.”

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