The Ministry of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports in the defunct Torit State with support from UNDP has finalized the construction of a new football field in Torit.
The stadium located east of Torit town near Dr John Garang Memorial Secondary School, can accommodate 80 to 100 people sitting on the perimeter wall chairs.
Torit Local Football Association President, Juma Joe Adriano told Radio Emmanuel, that the stadium is very small.
‘Regarding that construction of the stadium, you know we call it stadium but it’s something very little less to be called stadium because it has got no difference even with this one in Torit is more important than that one, we were expecting from them that this stadium is going to be closed, well fenced and it has no sitting arrangements within it but unfortunately we realized that the side which is built can only take about 80-100 because it is very small, it cannot accommodate many people’, he said
Joe recalled that Torit missed to host the women tournament in 2018 due to lack of enough space in the sports pitch which brought to them a big shame.
He said with the newly constructed stadium, they can be able to host any sports activity in Torit although most spectators will remain standing.
Joe cited lack of coordination among constructors that has led to poor planning and construction of the stadium.
‘In 2018, we missed to host women tournament which is supposed to be played in Torit and when the technical group came from Juba they found that Torit does not have football ground for conducting the tournament that’s why they transferred from here to Juba. It affected us so much, but now we are ready to host even the South Sudan cup here in Torit. There was no direct communication between those who are doing the construction and this was the challenge, we would have corrected the capacity size of the stadium and other things even the style, we would have corrected and make some adjustment’, the sport leader explained.
Joe appreciated UNDP and the ministry for the initiative, urging them to restructure the stadium in the near future.
‘We appreciate the initiative of UNDP and Ministry of Information and Sports, we wished they would have constructed for us the stadium which is more better than what we have now, we hope they also hear our message for them to restructure the stadium and fencing on it so that it helps our team because building it like that and leaving it opened like that has got no difference with other fields which are around Torit’, he pleaded.
The speaker made the remarks to Radio Emmanuel in Torit