Kadodia: Why Maritzburg Is Rebranding As Durban City

The relocation of Maritzburg United to Durban and its rebranding as Durban City marks a significant chapter in the club’s history.
Chairman Farook Kadodia acknowledged the challenges of this transition, stating it would require a substantial effort to rebuild the club’s brand from the ground up.
The decision to relocate was largely driven by the club’s eviction from Harry Gwala Stadium at the beginning of last season. With no suitable home venue in Pietermaritzburg, Kadodia expressed the incongruity of retaining the Maritzburg United name.
The club’s partnership with Msunduzi municipality ended after their relegation to the Motsepe Foundation Championship, leading to Royal AM’s takeover of Harry Gwala Stadium. Sources suggested that Royal AM were refusing to share the venue, forcing Maritzburg United to seek alternative options, ultimately leading them to Durban.
They will play their home games at Chatsworth Stadium next season in the Championship.
“It’s a very big challenge that we have,” Kadodia told Sportswire.
“We must build the brand from scratch, from the bottom. We are reviving the old name of Durban City, and we want to basically capture the people.”
Kadodia emphasized the historical significance of the Durban City name, highlighting its strong support base in the past. The club’s former coach, Clive Barker, who passed away last year, led Durban City to National Professional Soccer League titles in 1982 and 1983. Interestingly, Barker coached Maritzburg United during the 2015/16 season.
“Durban City in Durban is synonymous with the kind of support it had,” Kadodia admitted.
“We believe that, having Durban being part of it, it will create plenty of opportunities, plenty of supporters. We will go into this whole venture of Durban, it’s a huge cost. Because when you are relocating a team or the brand, it comes with a huge cost.”
The relocation process involves significant logistical challenges, including finding suitable training facilities, a clubhouse, and accommodation for players.
“We must find training facilities; we must look at all the relevant logistics that go with it, it’s a huge cost,” he added.
“I will rather find and do something that we can find as a home then being gypsy in Pietermaritzburg where we were traveling up and down.”
Kadodia indicated that these matters were still under consideration and hoped to reach final decisions within the next ten days.
“All those things are in a process, and we hope in the next 10 days to come close to finality of that,” he said.
“When you are doing a relocation like this, it’s process because you are coming out from one place to another. So, it’s not like a light switch, it takes time.
“Even the offices, we have not finalised them yet. But very soon we are going to announce what is the future of our base, our offices. Once we finalized our training grounds, we will know exactly what is our office structure will be. But we will also make our announce from there.”
Despite the relocation, Kadodia plans to continue commuting from Pietermaritzburg to Durban to oversee the team’s matches.
“No, I will be in Pietermaritzburg,” he said.