daniel chigunwe
THE domestic Premiership football season is up and running after the full programme of nine matches were held throughout the country.
The biggest crowd was at newboys Scottland, who have brought a buzz into the top-flight league, at the Mabvuku side’s first match in the top-flight league on Friday.
Given the way they opened the cheque book and invested in virtually an entire side, bringing in the likes of Khama Billiat, Walter Musona and Lynoth Chikuhwa, it was expected that Scottland would attract most of the interest.
That explains why there was a very big crowd at Rufaro on Friday when Scottland opened their campaign with a tough date against an inspired Triangle.
It was a clash of two clubs who were promoted into the PSL at the end of last season but it was very clear that a lot of focus was on Scottland.
The Dynamos and CAPS United fans formed a coalition against Scottland and cheered every touch by the inspired Triangle who impressed with their energy and very good build-ups.
For us, what mattered was that there was a good and lively crowd at Rufaro, even though this was a Friday afternoon.
We want to see fans returning to our top-flight league because, without fans, football loses a big part of its DNA.
We are happy to see that there is a deliberate campaign by the Scottland officials to woo fans, especially from their base in Mabvuku.
A number of buses were provided to take the fans to and from the stadium and the response from the supporters was a good one.
We have always advocated that the clubs must do more to try and bring fans to the stadiums.
We have always said that the clubs should not take it for granted that the fans will always come to the stadiums because they love football.
There is a need for some initiatives to lure the fans to the stadiums and it’s interesting to note that there were more fans at Rufaro on Friday than was the case for the Dynamos game against ZPC Kariba at the same venue yesterday.
The Glamour Boys are the biggest and most successful club in the country and the natural expectation is that they will always attract more fans to their matches than the league’s newboys.
But, we clearly saw that was not the case and the reason is that clubs pay a price for taking things for granted.
The officials should move with the changing times and they should not behave as if we are living in the ‘80s but that there are more counter attractions today than was the case back then.
We also urge the PSL to be flexible.
It’s not cast in stone that all football matches should start at 3pm.
The Friday game, in particular, could have started at 1pm and that would have meant that it’s ending would not clash with the traffic jam that comes with offices closing at 5pm in the Harare CBD.
Online Reporter