SuperSport Park hopes to host more than 2,000 fans on Boxing Day

Northerns Cricket Union (NCU) CEO Jacques Faul has declared the unions intent to apply for the right to allow more than the prescribed 2,000 fans into SuperSport Park on Boxing Day.

SuperSport Park will play host to the South Africa vs India Test between 26 and 30 December 2021 in the Unions second hosting engagement of the season.

The first engagement will be the three Cricket World Cup Super League matches against the Netherlands to which SuperSport Park can permit entry of 2,000 fans per game.

No children will be allowed into the venue for the matches and no alcohol can ber served, which severely limits the Unions ability to offset the cost of staging international matches.

Supersport Park hoping for bigger crowd

“We will definitely ask for more people for the Test against India, because 2,000 spectators is just not enough for a big match against a hugely followed opposition like India,” said Faul.

“We are happy that we are moving in the right direction with 2,000 spectators for the Netherlands match, but it doesn’t benefit the stadium at all if it’s only 2,000 fans inside the stadium.

“As a stadium, we are happy that it is moving in the right direction to have fans, but we also need children in there to create that buzz that they always bring, and we need to sell alcohol.

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“You can go sit at a bar or full restaurant and enjoy yourself, but you can’t serve anything in the stadium, and you also don’t want to allow kids. It is horrible, but that’s where we are at the moment.”

In normal circumstances, SuperSport Park could expect a close to a capacity crowd on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test with an opponent like India lined up for the Proteas.

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The SuperSport Park Stadium has generous grass embankments which lend it a charming atmosphere, but those banks pose social distancing problems, and could be closed to the public.

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