adminBACK in 2008, the now defunct Premiership outfit Eastern Lions found themselves in a mess when they were ordered to find an alternative home ground after Premier Soccer League deemed Sakubva Stadium unfit to host top flight league matches owing to the appalling state of the stadium.
Three years later, another now defunct top-flight league team, Shooting Stars, fought long and hard to use Sakubva Stadium as their home ground after the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League said they are considering banning the stadium owing to some half-baked renovations done on the venue.
In 2012, Mutare City Council came under severe criticism over its use of Sakubva Stadium as the local authority continued sanctioning musical shows at the expense of the turf on the pitch.
To their credit, in the same year, the City Council managed to move vegetable vendors, who used to trade their wares adjacent to the stadium and caused wanton destruction on the pre-cast wall as they made their way into the stadium to either use the toilets or fetch water, the changing rooms were repainted, a new perimeter fence was erected thanks to the 21st February Movement celebrations preparatory clean-up.
But surprisingly, second-hand clothes vending has now been sanctioned by the same local authority to do business at the same place. Is this not a case of taking one step ahead and latter two steps backwards?
In 2013, pay-per-view sports TV channel Supersport, who were set to beam live about 60 matches during the 2013 Castle Lager Premiership season around the country this year, argued that they could not carry their gadgets to Sakubva owing to lack of requisite infrastructure in the stadium.
These episodes are just but a tip of the iceberg of the numerous occasions that Sakubva Stadium has been deemed unfit to host Premiership matches let alone host pay-per-view sports TV channel Supersport.
But why always does it have to be Sakubva?
Certainly no one in their right senses would say there is a conspiracy against Mutare, but it has more to do with failure by the custodians of the facility to upgrade it.
Parts of the pre-cast wall at Sakubva Stadium, which collapsed back in 2008, are yet to be fully repaired. Broken down infrastructure at the turnstiles have become a permanent sight at the entrance of Manicaland’s biggest soccer venue.
As if that was enough, the changing rooms are lying in an appalling state with malfunctioning water taps. The toilets, most of which are located adjacent to the stadium’s entrance points, are terribly filthy and apart from inconveniencing soccer fans, the toilets are also giving cashiers an unenviable time at the turnstiles. The inside perimeter fence has been badly damaged thereby posing a security threat to sportsmen and officials in the field of play. There is absolutely nothing very important about the Very Important Persons enclosure of the stadium where even hooligans gain entrance at will. In this day and age, there is not even a small media enclosure at Sakubva Stadium. More importantly, the state of the pitch on the field of play is just atrocious.
The stadium’s poor drainage system was once badly exposed as the then Premiership teams Motor Action and Zimbabwe Saints were left to play in a waterlogged field where puddles of water made it quite difficult to allow a free-flowing game. The bumpy pitch is clearly not conducive for football. It is against this background that we humbly call upon the local authority to seriously look into the issue of Sakubva Stadium. After all, the local authority has demonstrated its love and respect for the game of football by bankrolling a team in the Eastern Region Division One League, but we are now taken aback by their sheer reluctance to renovate the sports venue.
If the local authority is keen to see the facility not being condemned year in year out, why not call all stakeholders to the round table and enlist for advice? In the same breath, Minister Mandi Chimene’s call for diamond-mining companies to chip in needs to be taken seriously by all progressive residents of Mutare and beyond.
Online Reporter