Loftus Versfeld will remain the bastion of rugby after Mamelodi Sundowns president Patrice Motsepe confirmed on Wednesday that his club will no longer be playing their matches at the Pretoria stadium.
Motsepe's decision comes on the back of a long standing commercial war between cellular companies Vodacom and MTN with the former having acquired the naming rights to Loftus while the latter is Sundowns' main sponsor.
The feud has resulted in the much anticipated PSL championship decider between Sundowns and Orlando Pirates having to be moved from Loftus to the lesser-fancied and under-maintained Odi Stadium in Mabopane on the outskirts of Pretoria.
"In future we are looking at no longer using Loftus. We have a duty to MTN not to utilise facilities that have their competitors interest at heart," Motsepe said at his club's press briefing held at the Sandton Convention Centre on Wednesday.
Motsepe, though, did indicate that Sundowns would continue to use HM Pitjie Stadium in Mamelodi as their home venue and would look for a suitable venue to host matches between themselves, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.
Last month Loftus stadium manager Hugo Kemp said that Loftus "had informed the Premier Soccer League and Sundowns of the venue being booked".
Loftus will on Saturday be utilised by the Blue Bulls Rugby Union and their sponsor for "Bulletjie Day", which consists of various junior age groups playing rugby matches from 7:30am until 5:30pm.
The hosting of Bulletjie Days at Loftus was part of the contract obligations that Vodacom signed with the Blue Bulls Company last year.
Blue Bulls company CEO Stefan Pretorius refuted any suggestions that Vodacom had rejected future plans for Sundowns to use Loftus and claimed that the decision for Sundowns to withdraw came from MTN.
"I can say that this matter did not come from Vodacom. We knew that this was going to happen but felt no need to really talk about it. It was nice having Sundowns here at Loftus but we did not make much money. Our decision to host soccer matches was purely community based," Pretorius said.
Loftus will remain without a home soccer team after SuperSport United took the decision, at the beginning of the season, to play their home games at Super Stadium in Atteridgeville.
However, Pretorius was not perturbed at Loftus not having a soccer side based there, pointing out that it was still the favoured soccer venue in Pretoria with Jomo Cosmos playing Portuguese champions FC Porto on May 25 and Chiefs or Pirates taking on English giants Manchester United on July 22.
Pretorius added that Loftus will be available to SuperSport United when they play against Chiefs or Pirates as has been the arrangement in previous years.
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