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THE Harare Derby, the biggest football game in the capital, returns to its spiritual home at Rufaro on Sunday after years of being played at the National Sports Stadium.
For years, Rufaro was the preferred home of the two Harare giants even though, alternatively, they would switch to play some games at the National Sports Stadium.
However, when Rufaro was closed because it was no longer fit to host Premier League games, both Dynamos and CAPS United were forced to relocate their bases and use the giant stadium.
But, on Sunday, the two giants are back at Rufaro on what will be the second biggest test for the stadium authorities since it was renovated by the Harare City Council and passed the test to host top-flight league matches.
The first big test, when Yadah hosted Dynamos at Rufaro, the authorities at the stadium failed the test when thousands of fans ended up being stranded outside the ground.
At one stage, there were more people outside the stadium than those who were inside as thousands struggled to find a way into the ground because of chaos at the entry points.
It is estimated that more than 5 000 fans ended up being frustrated by all the challenges they were facing and decided to return home which came at a huge cost for Yadah, in terms of the revenue which they could have got.
Khama Billiat’s star quality meant that thousands of fans flocked to Rufaro to watch him play.
When he was suspended for the league match against CAPS United, at the same venue, only about 1 800 fans paid to watch the match, which the Green Machine won 1-0.
Now, the real big boys of football in the capital are back at Rufaro and the expectation is that tens of thousands of fans will be there to watch the Harare Derby.
We hope that the authorities anticipate all the challenges which come with hosting such a high-profile game and are working on ways they will deal with these challenges.
We also hope that they are looking at the entry points and they will find a way to ensure that the chaos, which we saw during the game between Yadah and Dynamos, will not be repeated on Sunday.
We hope that the issues related to parking will also be resolved before the big game.
Our league is crying out for fans to come back to watch its matches in their thousands and we can’t afford to keep frustrating the fans because of the inefficiency of the leaders of the game and those who are in charge of facilities like the stadiums.
We also appeal to the fans to come early because if they all come after 2pm, as they usually do, you can be guaranteed that there will be chaos at the gates.
Even if we have the best system at the gates, it will count for nothing if the majority of the fans come late to Rufaro.
Online Reporter