Sakubva: Better late than never

27 Mar, 2020 - 00:03 0 Views
Sakubva: Better late than never Sakubva Stadium

The ManicaPost

MOFFAT MUNGAZI
Sakubva Stadium remains under an embargo restricting it from hosting any Premiership matches until some recommended refurbishments have been carried out.

While the nation’s football community readied for the start of the 2020 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season — just before that was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic — Zifa released a communiqué stating the stadiums that had been certified as suitable venues.

These include Vengere (Rusape), Mandava (Zvishavane), Baobab (Mhondoro-Ngezi), Luveve (Bulawayo) and Gibbo (Triangle).

Vengere was endorsed after a dozen games into the 2019 campaign and has been given the green light again this term as it worked on polishing up a few glitches.

Mutare’s Sakubva was excluded as its facilities do not conform to the dictates of the global-accepted Club Licensing requirements.

But in the face of this dark cloud hovering above Mutare football and the entire world, thre appears to be a silver lining, after all.

This gives us some time to sort out our mess.

ln the period between now and the kick-off of local football, some work has to be thoroughly done to the satisfaction of the powers-that-be.

We must tick all the boxes on the stadium.

We have always been in this race against time and we are already behind schedule.

lt is encouraging to note that progress is being made.

Hopefully by the time the season eventually gets underway, the stadium will be ready for action. lt is also hoped that Sakubva will finally get the nod to host matches. This would certainly bring cheer to the soccer fans in Manicaland.

The fact that we had become comfortable with using school grounds as venues for our Division One games shows that the game had plunged to low depths. Somehow, it was business as usual as we sanitised this madness.

This saw last term’s top-of-the-table clash between the then Zifa Eastern Region championship-chasing Tenax and Buffaloes being called off following crowd trouble when fans invaded the pitch to protest against the referee’s decision.

It is time we exorcised this diabolical ghost haunting our game once and for all.

Sakubva should be Manicaland’s citadel of football, just as Wembley in England. The province’s starlets should dream about setting their feet in the stadium after coming of age in their careers.

At whatever point Sakubva Stadium is going to be ready this year — before, during or after the end of the season – it will still be a huge and positive step in the right direction. It is a case of better late than never!

After we are done with sprucing up Sakubva, our attention should shift to facilities like Sports Oval, Chisamba and Dangamvura grounds. These are the dusty grounds where some of our yesteryear greats’ journeys began. These facilities are crying for a kiss of life to bring them back to functionality.

Giving them a facelift will restore their recreational expediency. Many of today’s teams were formed from social soccer outfits that used to converge on such spaces.

After we are done rehabilitating our football arenas, we ought to regularly maintain them.

If it is about football that you care about, let’s share the cheer because we are made for the game and are mad about the game!

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