Highbury left homeless as metro misses safety deadline

Highbury FC are facing a venue crisis with no home ground to call their own after the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality missed the deadline to renew the Gelvandale Stadium's safety certificate. The Yellow Nation have used the Gelvandale Stadium as their home venue since last season. However, the current safety certificate expires on Thursday, which means that the Gqeberha side will not have a venue for their Motsepe Foundation Championship fixture against Casric Stars on Friday because the Gelvandale Stadium will not be compliant. Frustrated Highbury chair Cameron Klopper said his only options would be to find a home ground outside the city because the Wolfson Stadium and the Westbourne Oval were also not compliant, or attempt to move their match to Thursday. However, both options will cost the club dearly. Klopper said he reminded sport, recreation, arts and culture executive director Charmaine Williams and relevant managers earlier in October that the Gelvandale Stadium safety certificate was due to expire. An email seen by The Herald, sent by Klopper on October 6, read: "Could you kindly assist with the renewal of the safety certificate for the Gelvandale Stadium, which expires on the 23rd of October 2025. "Please treat this as a matter of urgency, as we will be playing our home game at the Gelvandale Stadium on the 24th of October 2025." Williams replied to Klopper's email, saying the process to renew the safety certificate had started but was not yet approved. Klopper sent another email on October 16 requesting an update.