Premier Soccer League side Cape Town City are a step closer to realising their dream of building their own stadium on the historic Hartleyvale site in the Mother City that was once a hot-bed for the local game.
Like many South African clubs, City are currently tenants at the venues they play at, which has led to scheduling difficulties and even forced the club to play one of their 'home' games some 1,500 kilometres away in Durban earlier this season.
City owner John Comitis wants the club to be given permission to redevelop Hartleyvale into a 10,000-seater purpose-built venue that would be their own.
The club has already been given permission to start training at the venue and hope to have their facility in place by the end of 2019, having signed a lease with the City of Cape Town.
"I have a signed lease in my hand, we are going full speed ahead," Comitis told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday.
"We want Capetonians to be the first city that can come and watch their team in the future at its own stadium with its own personal signature on it, so they feel part of something that they can see and touch.
"That experience has eluded South African football and is the experience that rugby and cricket has had for many years. Hence, I think, it's the reason why a rugby event has so much social involvement with off-the-field hospitality and corporate involvement.
"Because there is a base to work from. Those are things we hope to improve and change for the football fraternity."
Comitis says the key to a new stadium would be making it sustainable away from the football, perhaps with a retail or travel element. He took a dig at how the city had failed to work this into their plans for the Cape Town Stadium, the magnificent venue built ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
"The precinct has to have sustainability, which is what all our stadiums lack in South Africa," he continued.
"We build these fantastic stadiums and we don't work out before how we are going to sustain them. Then we are continuously fighting with everybody, wanting to rent the thing out at astronomical fees to make it sustainable.
"You can't build a stadium without a commercial element and you can't make it work unless you have taken care of that. Inherently, on football clubs' books, the stadium is the biggest burden of their assets. "That has been the focus of my design and intention, to ensure we do not depend on the city for anything, that it sustains itself, and that it manages itself."
Comitis says crucial to the venue will be the fan experience it offers.
"It must give a lifestyle opportunity and a change for the fans, and an experience that takes the match from a one-and-a-half hour event to a six-hour event, so that there is an experience being part of this club.
"If we get this right, it will be a 10,000-seater stadium. So you will have to get your season ticket for big games, because we have no intention of moving [to bigger venues], we will play any team there."
The Hartleyvale facility had been used by amateur sides to play matches and they will now have to find an alternative venue. Comitis says they are willing to help in this regard.
"The pitch was used on a pay-and-play basis, we want to participate with those clubs to assist them at a couple of fields further down [the road]. So that they have adequate facilities," Comitis noted.
"We want to make sure that football continues, we are here to grow the sport and not make it difficult for clubs, so we will certainly participate in assisting our neighbours to ensure they have adequate facilities to work with."
Comitis also revealed that they will be making an immediate investment into the pitch at the venue to make it suitable for their training.
"We can safely say we now have a lease that we can start training on. It is going to take us R200,000 to R300,000 to get the pitch to the level we need. But at least we have a base to train from."