By Nangamso Mabindla
21 July, 2005

THANKS to its many world class sporting facilities, Buffalo City has played host to many national and international sporting events in the past few years.

In 2004 the South African Games, the National Water Polo Championships and other glamorous sporting events were held in the municipality.

The City's Gary Webber says the success of these major events was a result of the commitment shown by the staff in upgrading these sports facilities.

"For the SA Games alone we spent over R19-million upgrading our facilities in order to make them ready for one of the biggest sporting events in our 2004 calendar," he says.

The money was spent on a new track for the Jan Smuts Athletics Ground, upgrading the Joan Harrison Swimming Complex and the Xerox Park Astro Turf in Bunkers Hill.

"We don't own the Xerox Park but we worked closely with the owners to ensure that it was ready for the games."

There are more than 50 sports venues in the city, the best of which are used for big national events. Soccer, cricket and rugby are popular in the region, and Webber says there is a need to have top facilities.

"We need a big soccer and rugby sporting complex to ensure that we get bigger matches coming to the city. We aim to make Buffalo City and East London in particular the sports tourism centre of South Africa," he says.

In the Joan Harrison Complex, East London has the best aquatic centre in the country. The Olympic-size pool is heated and the water pools are world class.

Earlier this year the city hosted the National Swimming Championships, with big stars like Olympic Gold medalists Roland Schoeman, Ryk Neethling and Natalie du Toit taking part.

"Our weather is good throughout the year and our city is central. We [also] have good hockey fields and tennis courts," Webber says.

The City recently spent about R6-million on a new Astro Turf, the Schoeman Stadium, in Buffalo Flats to go with Xerox, Selborne College and King William's Town hockey stadiums.

"Hockey teams love playing here because our hockey fields are very close to each other," Webber adds.

Turning his attention to tennis, Webber says the Selborne Club alone has 17 tennis courts.

Buffalo City aims to host more water sports events, like the Rubber Duck rowing international event to be hosted in the next two months.

The surfing nationals were also recently held in the area, and Webber says Nahoon Reef is one of the best surfing spots in the country.

However, the city's soccer and rugby fields still need to be upgraded to host bigger international games. "We have just spent R1,5-million on Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane and we believe this stadium has a lot of potential," Webber says.

"We are definitely on the right track in our aim to put the city on the sporting map."