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Tadious Manyepo
Sports Reporter
IN line with their commercialisation drive, Castle Lager Premiership giants Dynamos are working towards setting up a sports shop at the Rufaro Stadium complex which is currently under construction.
The ceremonial home of football is undergoing major renovations, with the construction of a shopping mall and a hotel part of the work, as the Harare City Council look to draw revenue from different streams at the same venue.
Rufaro Stadium last hosted a Premiership match in 2019 and has been banned since then after it failed to meet the set criteria for homologation by the ZIFA First Instance Board.
This prompted the City of Harare to pour huge investments towards the redevelopment of the iconic venue.
With the Premier Soccer League hit by a stadium crisis that forced an abrupt three-week break to the 2023 league marathon a fortnight ago, Rufaro Stadium is expected to stop the gap with Harare mayor Jacob Mafume saying the stadium will be ready for football activities at the end of this month.
But for Dynamos, the re-opening of Rufaro Stadium to top-flight football will present them not only with the convenience of playing at their favourite hunting ground but with an opportunity to kick-start their business plan.
The Glamour Boys have already applied for a lease to one of the shops where they want to set their sports shop.
All along, DeMbare have been preaching the gospel of commercialisation with nothing happening on the ground.
But, they are looking to make the most of what a new-look Rufaro Stadium will be offering by taking up a shop from which they will be selling the club’s apparel.
Dynamos executive chairman Moses Maunganidze told The Herald that the club have already applied for a lease from the Harare City Council.
“Look, as Dynamos we would want to get a shop or two at Rufaro Stadium and I understand that we have to follow the due procedure set by the Harare City Council.
“We will do all that is needed in terms of procedural applications. I can actually tell you that we are already in the queue for consideration to get the shop,” said Maunganidze.
“That’s our intention to make it convenient for our fans to get regalia and paraphernalia at a shop within the Rufaro Stadium complex. We will be available with the team’s regalia and apparel throughout the week and throughout the weekends.
“We have been talking about setting up a sports shop for the team for a long time now. But with Rufaro Stadium which is synonymous with Dynamos providing the facilities, we will be able to finally set up one. We just hope that our application will sail through.
“We are very confident that we will get the support from our fans. The fans have been requesting us to set up a sports shop where they would get the club’s apparel.
“We have been considering setting up in Harare Central Business District but there are several factors that we have also been looking at.
“But with the coming of a new-look Rufaro Stadium, I can tell you that this place will be ideal for what we stand for.
“Rufaro Stadium is our favourite hunting ground and our success story is anchored at this venue. So our fans should look forward not only to a sports shop but a Dynamos shop selling different other things as we now have to start our commercialisation initiative”.
For a long time, the Glamour Boys have survived mainly from gate takings and sponsorship deals with the club doing nothing to sustain themselves.
But the new executive led by Maunganidze seems determined to change the way the club was being run.
Online Reporter