MBU gets green light for MoBay Sports Complex

NEW OWNERS of Montego Bay United (MBU) have got their New Year’s wish. They will shortly be hosting matches at the Montego Bay Sports Complex in Catherine Hall. The stadium was closed for five months last year to allow for a $7-million repair work to be done.

The team is expected to host their Wray & Nephew-sponsored Jamaica Premier League (JPL) game against Waterhouse Football Club on Monday, January 22.

Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, MBU’s Chairman Yoni Epstein said the team is elated about using the facility.

“This is our wish and we are excited about the option of having an opportunity to host games there. We will be hosting our third game of the year there. As they continue to rehabilitate the facility, we will continue to have it as an option,” said Epstein.

“We will host night matches and things of that nature that will bring out additional patrons to continue supporting the club as we continue our journey on building it back and putting ourselves at the top of the JPL again. We are very excited about the second half of the season and we have high expectations and want to thank our fans for the support,” Epstein added. “We want them to continue coming out to support their club in the west.”

Last October, in his first speech as chairman of MBU, Epstein stated that while Wespow Park is a first-class facility and one where they will start their matches, the team was looking at the stadium with a view to making the venue the home of MBU.

95 PER CENT READY

In making the announcement of the stadium’s current status during Thursday’s monthly meeting of the St James Municipal Corporation, Deputy Mayor of Montego Bay Richard Vernon stated that the turf is 95 per cent ready.

“What we are seeking is turf perfection and to achieve turf perfection the work has to be ongoing. After the games are played, we will assess the turf and then carry out the necessary remedial work if needed. What we are doing is what should have been done several years ago, which is to rehabilitate the field and continue to carry out periodical interventions to maintain the surface. The invasive operation that was done included ripping the field. We got the competitive grade grass and we are trying now to get it to occupy the entire space and then to groom it to a level that will give you international turf. The problem with the other grass was that it was not enough and you had so many different variations of grass on it and from time we had to spray it. That type of grass could not withstand the spray ... so you had patches, brown spots, loose areas and sand all over the place,” Vernon explained.

The field is sand based and so it has to be treated accordingly. The stadium that has a capacity of 7,000, changed the seating and minor repairs were done to increase water pressure at the venue.

The aim of the municipal corporation is to get a more powerful system to ensure that the water pressure stays at a certain level when games are played.

According to Vernon, for the larger part of the repairs, the municipality is waiting on the Sports Development Foundation.

“For the restoration of some sections of the facility, some materials used back then were not necessarily resistant to the climate and the air is salty due to the proximity to the sea. We have rusting and deterioration due to that. We are going to address that and move forward once we sign that agreement with the Sports Development Foundation,” he added.