daniel chigunwe
Innocent Kurira
Sports Writer
HIGHLANDERS recorded their lowest attendance for a home match this season when they hosted Yadah Stars at Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday with 5 396 fans paying to watch Bosso win 2-0 over the visitors.
It was the worst attendance by Bosso’s standards although most teams in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League struggle to such numbers for a home game.
On a normal home game, Bosso’s attendance averages between 7 000 to 8 000 fans.
The highest number of home fans to attend a Bosso home game was when the Bulawayo side hosted Dynamos in the first round of fixtures in May.
The paying fans on the day totalled 13 173.
The Yadah game came at the back of a poor run of form from the Bulawayo giants which saw them lose two consecutive games to Chicken Inn and FC Platinum before the abandoned highly anticipated battle for bragging rights against Dynamos.
The chaos started when fans at the Soweto End threw missiles on the pitch before invading the pitch.
The Glamour Boys, who had been hosting their home games in Bulawayo due to the unavailability of football venues in Harare, had doubled their lead through Frank Makarati’s header on the 33rd minute.
Keith Madera opened the scoring as early as in the fourth minute.
Some have attributed last Sunday’s poor attendance to the violence that erupted during the Dynamos match.
Following the incidents, there was a heavy police presence for matches at Barbourfields Stadium this past weekend.
First was the Bulawayo Chiefs and Dynamos game on Saturday before yet another heavy police presence for the Bosso game. Prior to the game, there were rumours of the police launching man hunts for those who were involved in the skirmishes during the Bosso, DeMbare game.
However, Highlanders communications officer Nozibelo Maphosa says the poor attendance can only be attributed to the team’s performance.
“Football is performance-based. When the team is not playing well fans tend to shy away. We are confident that our fans will return in their numbers for the coming games.
“We still record a high number of followership even on what we may call our worst days. We remain the most followed club in the local league.
“We are hopeful the numbers will increase after we got back to winning ways against Yadah,” said Maphosa.
Online Reporter