Chronicle Editor
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
ERECTING bucket seats at Barbourfields Stadium for the facility to meet requirements to host international matches will present further challenges as the carrying capacity would be significantly reduced.
While the owners of Barbourfields, Bulawayo City Council have indicated that bucket seats are part of the long projects at the facility, the seats are sure to create further headaches when they are eventually put up at the stadium. At the moment, official records show that Emagumeni can accommodate 22 000 spectators but when buckets seats are mounted all over the stadium the capacity will be reduced by half.
Dictor Khumalo, the Bulawayo City Council Director of Housing and Community Services said the stadium capacity will go down because of the standards that have to be adhered to when mounting the buckets seats.
“Providing the buckets seats will actually halve the capacity of the stadium from perhaps the current 22 000 to almost 11 000 because there are standards that have to be met, so these are the challenges that we are facing as we try to convert the old infrastructure into the modern infrastructure that is required,’’ Khumalo said.
According to Caf requirements, bucket seats for spectators have to be individual, fixed to the floor, separated from one another, shaped, numbered, made of an unbreakable and non-flammable material as well as have a backrest of a minimum height of 30cm when measured from the seat.
The reduction in the number of people who can occupy Emagumeni will bring about challenges when it hosts big football matches like when Highlanders play against Dynamos. Even at their worst, the two giants of Zimbabwean football still attract sizeable crowds with the lowest over the last few years being 13 000. It means when bucket seats are mounted at Barbourfields, the number of people who get in for matches has to be controlled.
In addition BCC will lose out in terms of revenue and so will teams like Highlanders who are sure to see a reduction from their gate takings. Even those who benefit from the ticket sales will have their share of the cake reduced.
Last year, the venue had to be closed with 23 164 fans having paid to watch their Caf Champions League match between FC Platinum and South Africa’s Orlando Pirates.
@Mdawini_29
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