The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
CASTLE Lager Premiership football in general and Manica Diamonds FC in particular will make a sensational return to Sakubva Stadium this year after a season long absence due to renovations that were being carried out at the football match venue.
The 2024 football season will commence with a clash between Dynamos and Ngezi Platinum Stars in the Castle Challenge Cup on February 17 at Baobab Stadium.
Following this, the Premier Soccer League is set to kick-off on February 24, a week later, to avoid season congestion.
The league authorities are addressing last year’s stadium availability issues, with Rufaro Stadium in Harare nearing completion, The Heart Stadium also in Harare undergoing inspection, while efforts to improve Sakubva Stadium in Mutare have been carried out in earnest.
However, concerns linger over the readiness of the National Sports Stadium due to a major upgrade.
Thus, the Gem Boys are excited with the prospects of playing their home matches at Sakubva Stadium, subject to approval by the football grounds inspection committee.
Manica Diamonds chairman, Masimba Chihowa confirmed that they will be meeting Mutare City Council management soon to get an official confirmation on the availability of the facility.
The Chancellor Junior School head, said upon getting that confirmation, they will register Sakubva Stadium as their preferred home ground and await the grounds inspection committee to give a nod on the use of the match venue.
“We are definitely reverting to Sakubva Stadium provided they (Mutare City Council) finish the renovation work on time. We have been checking on the progress and we are happy that they have been working very hard to ensure that the facility meets the required standards for Premiership football.
“We will soon be consulting with Mutare City Council so that we can register the stadium as our preferred home ground. After that, the grounds inspection committee will come down and do their work as per procedure,” said the Manica Diamonds boss.
The former FIFA panel assistant match official said playing their home matches at Sakubva Stadium comes with a number of benefits for the 2023 Castle Lager Premiership season runners-up.
“We are greatly excited about the possible return to Sakubva Stadium. It will do us good in terms of the moral of the players. It is obvious that when the team is playing before a crowd that has some attachment to the club, morale is high.
“It will also benefit us even in terms of revenue. I have no doubt that we will get the numbers at Sakubva Stadium compared to Gibo Stadium. Yes, the crowd in Triangle was very supportive, but at times selective depending on which team we were playing against.
“The other thing is that the crowds were not that big for most of the matches especially when playing against some lowly ranked clubs, something that we hope we will have a different experience when we play at Sakubva Stadium,” said Chihowa.
Sakubva Stadium has been undergoing turf and drainage system renovations for the greater part of last season and the match venue is highly likely to be approved to host top-flight league matches after the custodians of the facility – Mutare City Council – recently indicated that they are almost done with the renovations.
Mutare City Council chose to go for broke after the local authority insisted on its long term renovations of the turf and drainage system at Sakubva Stadium, that started on July 1 last year and targeted, back then, to last for seven months.
The sole Mutare-based top-flight league outfit, Manica Diamonds, had to play their home matches more than 360km away in Triangle, while Eastern Region Division One teams had to settle for the insecure Mutare Showgrounds Sports Arena.
True to their word, the local authority managed to meet their target on the costly drainage and turf renovations with final touches now being executed.
