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Cape Town City were ready to rumble in a DStv Premiership fixture against Kaizer Chiefs this weekend. However, when the local team arrived at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, the doors were closed and no one was home.

Chiefs had requested that the match be postponed due to an outbreak of COVID-19 cases among players and staff.

According to a report, a subsequent letter from Amakhosi stated that Chiefs will not be able to honour the fixture with only 13 players available, although the rules state that they can take the field with seven players.

Chiefs request, however, had no correspondence from the Premier Soccer League (PSL) informing them the game had been postponed, reports Times Live.

Regardless, it appears as though Chiefs had made up their own minds. They weren’t playing.

Without confirmation of cancellation or postponement, the Cape Town City team and crew, along with match officials and match commissioner Paulo Marques arrived at the stadium on Friday, ready to hit the pitch.

Everyone was there. Bar the opposing team — Kaizer Chiefs.

Cape Town City “emerged under the impression, having had no correspondence to contrary from the league, that the match had not been postponed,” said chairperson John Comitis.

City went on as normal, from a team bus parked outside a vacant stadium.

Meanwhile, without confirmation from PSL, Chiefs said that they contacted Bertie Grobbelaar, the CEO of Stadium Management SA, and said that the match was off.

Grobbelaar, who has an agreement with Chiefs and not PSL, then told everyone involved — from service providers to security — that the match was cancelled.

City, who shared news on social media about their travels to the City of Gold for the match, received no word from PSL that the match had been cancelled either.

“Having followed all match day procedures, Cape Town City FC was present at FNB Stadium for the start of the match at 18:00. Regrettably Chiefs did not arrive and the match officials called the game off at 18:15 in accordance with the rules of the game. A sad day for football,” the team tweeted. 

The PSL have not released a statement on the matter.

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Picture: Twitter

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