The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
THE good old days of a carnival atmosphere — punctuated by terraces filled to the brim — are slowly returning to Sakubva Stadium if the swelling numbers of fans attending the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League matches at the local soccer cathedral is anything to go by.
In recent weekends, the two Premiership clubs that use Sakubva Stadium as their home ground — Manica Diamonds and Bikita Minerals — have been witnessing a growing number of fans cheering them up from the first to the final whistle.
In a healthy development for the sport, even for matches that involve ‘small teams’ like Chegutu Pirates, the fans had every reason to spend their weekend afternoons at Sakubva Stadium.
However, the biggest challenge for Premiership, and even lower division clubs based in Mutare, remains that of fans who are reluctant to pay their way into the match venue.
Somehow, a retrogressive sense of entitlement still exists among supporters in Mutare.
They do not understand and appreciate a simple principle that the only way one can truly support a team — apart from cheering it from the terraces — is through paying the prescribed stadium entry charge.
Now that security at Sakubva Stadium was enhanced, and scaling the perimeter wall is now insurmountable, fans have resorted to mobbing the entry points with the intention of gaining free entry.
This is a bad and retrogressive culture.
Clearly, the number of tickets sold to people who pay their way to watch the weekend PSL matches does not tally with the numbers visible in the terraces of Sakubva Stadium.
For example, when Dynamos played against Bikita Minerals at Sakubva Stadium, the 15 000-seater facility had a few empty spaces in the terraces, but only 2 667 paid to watch the exciting encounter.
The same thing was witnessed when Manica Diamonds hosted CAPS United at the same venue when only 1 987 paid through the turnstiles, yet the stadium’s terraces were filled to the brim.
Manica Diamonds administrator, Owen Sango said the club is generally impressed with the increase in numbers each time the team plays at home.
“There is surely a marked increase in numbers of fans in the terraces compared to the recent previous seasons. However, we have a problem with fans who do not want to pay at the gates. They just want to watch the game for free. This is more of a syndrome we have here in Mutare,” he said.
Meanwhile, there were complaints by vendors and fans alike on the recent ban on the sale of bottled water at match venues by Premier Soccer League.
In a notice titled: “PROHIBITION OF BOTTLES AND CANS DURING PREMIER SOCCER LEAGUE MATCHES”, the league wrote: “This serves to advise that only authorised suppliers will be allowed to sell water and other beverages at the stadium during Castle Lager Premier Soccer League matches.
“These suppliers will be responsible for providing water exclusively in plastic cups, mitigating the risk of potential missiles being thrown during the matches.
“All other forms of containers, including bottles and cans, will not be allowed within the stadium premises. This prohibition is crucial for ensuring the safety and security of all attendees and preventing any potential incidents.
“Adequate arrangements must be made to ensure a sufficient supply of water and plastic cups throughout the duration of the matches.”
This did not do down well with vendors and fans at Sakubva Stadium on Sunday who bitterly complained about loss of business and health risk associated with the embargo.
Staunch CAPS United fan, Beauty Hughes said: “The issue of sale of water in the stadium is a matter of our health. Some of us consistently need water for various health reasons, and we have someone banning water from being sold here. This is just being overzealous.”
Mandebvu Mapangisana, a vendor, said: “It appears the people running the affairs of the game of football do not take us as serious stakeholders. We have been doing this for years and our families, just like footballers, are getting something out of this, but someone just wakes up and declares that we can no longer sell bottled water here. Here at Sakubva Stadium we have never witnessed the use of any frozen water bottle or even glass bottles in violent skirmishes.”
