New Delhi: The Indian Premier League has run into rough weather in South Africa after a dispute over the use of member suites at the Newlands Cricket ground, according to a newspaper report.
The Newlands is scheduled to host the opening match of the second edition of the IPL between the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians on April 18. The ground will host eight matches in all.
The senior management of Newlands cricket ground and the Western Province Cricket Association have been locked in meetings with representatives of the IPL after the management the ground asked all suiteholders and club members to forego their rights to the suites during the tournament, according to the Cape Argus, an afternoon newspaper published from Cape Town.
Urgent meetings were called on Monday at the offices of the WP Cricket Association, where the association met with senior representatives of Cricket South Africa and the IPL.
Meanwhile, Western Province Cricket Club members have been told by their representatives, who have also held meetings with senior stakeholders, that the club intended seeking "urgent relief from any unlawful restrictions or regulations placed on it".
Many club members who had queued outside the stadium on Monday to collect their tickets received SMSes saying no tickets would be available until further notice, the report said.
A statement from Andre Odendaal, chief executive of the WPCA, said the suiteholders would make the sacrifice in exchange for free tickets to the tournament.
"An allocation of an equivalent number of seats on a block basis in the grandstand for each match of the IPL tournament at no cost at all", and "access to a hospitality tent close to the ground at which food and beverages will be provided at no cost to the suiteholder", were what they were offered.
Odendaal said the IPL organisers had "insisted that, as a non-negotiable requirement for the hosting of the eight matches in Cape Town", they required access to all the suites.
"To put it bluntly, if we are unable to deliver our suites to the IPL, Cape Town and cricket in the Western Cape will be the ultimate loser," Odendaal warned.
He said the IPL would not require all the suites for all the matches, and that for some games suiteholders would get first option to use a suite, although not necessarily their own, for a particular match.
Sale of IPL tickets for the WPCC pavilion is expected to start from next Tuesday.
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