Bring back fans to stadium

A SOCCER indaba was held in Harare yesterday with the aim being to find ways how fans may return to the game.

Zimpapers, the country’s leading media house, has taken an initiative to make Zimbabwe’s football exciting again.

Poor attendances have punctuated stadia around the country.
Through their ZTNPrime, the Premier Soccer League’s official broadcasting partner, Zimpapers partnered top sports broadcaster Supersport to capacitate local clubs at the indaba which was held at Harare Country Club.

The workshop ran under the theme; “It’s time to make Zimfootball exciting again”.
In his opening remarks, Zimpapers board chairman Tommy Sithole said it is the behaviour of clubs on and off the field that can attract fans back into the stadia.
He applauded ZTN for taking an initiative to assist in the drive to develop local football.

“This is profound just being here among people who’ve been in business of broadcasting football and knowing how to and who to, is a gift that very few of us would have loved to receive.

“I came to understand one thing that these guys would not succeed if you, particularly teams don’t behave. You’ve to be part of the whole structure, how you behave, how you look after yourself on and off the pitch, how you respect the spectators and the understanding of what they need and what you also need.

“One of the few countries to understand the need to drive people into the stadium is Tunisia. In Tunisia, they were having African Games and there were no people in stadium. Tunisia got soldiers in civies to watch the football matches because they understood that broadcasters and sponsors want spectators in the stadium.

“The unsafety of spectators is a result of how you players behave on the pitch. Where are they (fans)? People used to walk distances to the stadium where are they now?

“It’s only you who can find solutions on how to bring people back into the stadium. They say customer is king, it has to happen in football.

“We (Zimpapers) really mean the tagline. We’re in love with football. ZTN, Zimpapers thanks for pulling this off,” Sithole said.

The event was attended by representatives of Premier Soccer League clubs, a number of Supersport employees with Supersport United chief executive officer Stan Matthews in attendance as were local media practitioners.

Football remains Zimbabwe’s number one sport.
It is the most followed and highest employer in sport. — @ZililoR