Orlando Stadium

Orlando Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium, in Soweto, a suburb of Johannesburg, in Gauteng province in South Africa. It is home venue for Orlando Pirates Football Club, a professional soccer team, which plays in the Premier Soccer League.

History

The stadium was originally built for the Johannesburg Bantu Football Association and it had a seating capacity of 24,000 and cost £37,500 to construct. It was opened by the Minister for Bantu development, MC de Wet Nel, and Ian Maltz who was then Mayor of Johannesburg on 2 May 1959.

Although intended for football the stadium has been used for concerts by the Jazz musicians Molombo and by the O'Jays. Boxing matches were also staged including the 1975 victory of Elijah ‘Tap Tap' Makhathini over the world welterweight and middleweight champion Emile Griffith.

On 16 June 1976 thousands of black students marched to Orlando Stadium to protest at having to learn the Afrikaans language. It was intended to be a rally and although it was organised some of the students only joined the protest on the day. It was planned to be a peaceful protest by the Soweto Students’ Representative Council’s (SSRC) Action Committee. The marchers got as far as their last meeting point when the police and tear gas arrived. The day ended in deaths and this was the start of the Soweto Uprising.

In 1978 the Orlando Pirates took on Phil Venter who had been the first White National Football Association player to play for a black side. He was soon joined by another white player Keith Broad.

In 1995, the stadium played host to the funeral of African National Congress stalwart, Joe Slovo, as well as that of Walter Sisulu in 2003 where Thabo Mbeki, Nelson Mandela, Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, and Pakalitha Mosisili of Lesotho were among the mourners.
In 2011 the stadium hosted the funeral of Albertina Sisulu where Jacob Zuma, Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia were among the mourners, and also hosted the funeral o