Royal Bafokeng Stadium

The Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace is a football, rugby and athletics stadium in Phokeng near Rustenburg, South Africa. It was built and is managed by the Royal Bafokeng Nation. It is used as the home stadium for Premier Soccer League club Platinum Stars. The Leopards rugby team host large attendance matches during the Currie Cup at the stadium, instead of their usual home ground, Olën Park.

The capacity of the stadium was increased from 38,000 to 42,000 to be able to host five first round matches and one second round match at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

For the 2010 tournament, the main west stand was upgraded and enlarged and given a new cantilever roof. Other improvements include the installation of new electronic scoreboards, new seats, and the upgrading of the floodlights and public address system.

The stadium upgrade was completed in March 2009 for hosting 4 matches of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Sporting and Miscellaneous events

2009 FIFA Confederations Cup

Royal Bafokeng Stadium was one of the host venues for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Royal Bafokeng Nation

The Royal Bafokeng Nation is the ethnic homeland of the Bafokeng people, a Setswana-speaking traditional community. The monarchy covers 1,000 square kilometers (390 sq mi) in the North West Province of South Africa. The capital is Phokeng, near Rustenburg. "Bafokeng" is used to refer to both the tribal grouping as well as the land its members inhabit. The kingdom's current ruler is Kgosi (King) Leruo Molotlegi, who has reigned since 2000.

The nation gained greater international attention in 2010, owing to its Royal Bafokeng Stadium, where six of the FIFA 2010 World Cup games were played, and the Bafokeng Sports Campus, where they hosted the England football team during the World Cup.

Background

The Bafokeng tribe (Bafokeng meaning 'People of the dew', or 'People of the grass') own a piece of land in South Africa's bushveld on which 150,000 people, not all ethnic Bafokeng, live. Oral tradition suggests that when they settled in the Rustenburg valley, it captured heavy overnight dew, holding the promise that the land would be fertile and hence that the community would prosper. The Bafokeng struggled to buy the land, repelling invaders and imperialists as they did so.