Football restart sparks empty stadiums debate

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE resumption of European football leagues after a three-month suspension due to Covid-19 has sparked debate in local social media groups, with the majority saying playing in empty stadiums does not augur well for domestic league.

They say matches played in empty stadiums are boring and hope local authorities will not follow what European leagues have done.

They want local action to resume when Covid-19 has been totally arrested, with fans allowed into stadiums.

The Premier Soccer League has appointed a medical committee to draft guidelines for safe return to training.

The PSL medical committee is chaired by Zifa medical committee head Edward Chagonda and has experienced Zimbabwe Olympic Committee medical commissioner Nicholas Munyonga.

The team of doctors was assigned to come up with protocols and procedures to be followed by clubs for the safe return of football after the Covid-19 lockdown.

Supporting his argument on why authorities mustn’t rush to push for the early resumption of the league, Blessing Mbwando said this is the time to sort out administrative matters.

“Football in Zimbabwe without fans is practically impossible because most teams, especially the big teams, bank on supporters to generate revenue. Imagine Dynamos versus Highlanders at Barbourfields in an empty stadium; that doesn’t augur well. The best step is for us to wait and start the season next year. Maybe then, good measures to control this pandemic would have been put in place,” said Mbwando.

“The other thing is that our grounds are not good. If we start in September we are going to have many distractions. Maybe this delay is good for us and it’s a blessing in disguise because there are a lot of administrative flaws in our football. Let’s start afresh and clean our football during this lockdown. Look, Zambia and Botswana have paid cushioning allowances to their players using Fifa funds, why hasn’t this been done in Zimbabwe? These are the things we should be interrogating instead of rushing to restart the game,” he said.

Lixie Sibanda shared Mbwando’s sentiments that without fans football will be boring and said revenue from gatetakings always cushions clubs.

Cino Luphahla said:, “Playing without fans most teams are going to struggle financially because they don’t have sponsors and gate takings to cushion them.”

Hubolami Sibanda said while it is good for the game to return, it will be difficult for local teams to fulfil games like what is done in Europe.

Some clubs are already struggling to pay players because they depend mostly on gate takings.

He suggested that football waits for the pandemic to pass considering lack of resources and the economic challenges facing the country.

Agency Sibanda noted that the big three, Highlanders, Dynamos and Caps United heavily rely on fans and can’t match company-sponsored teams like Ngezi Platinum Stars, FC Platinum and Chicken Inn, who have better financial muscle.

Knox Mikazhu said: “In Europe they’ve got multiple sponsors, we don’t. Why rush to restart? What are we playing for? Let’s wait till we have a safe environment. In the meantime, let’s fix our issues.”

Carlos Zidya said football is strictly business and resuming play without fans is like opening a supermarket without products to sell.

“We have teams which rely on gate takings and for camping they need fans. So I would advise them to close the stadiums till Covid-19 is over. European teams get money from TV rights advertising yet we have nothing,” said Zidya.

Buhle Ncube believes leagues like La Liga, English Premier League and Bundesliga can afford to play in empty stadiums because they are well sponsored yet the local league isn’t.

“For our league to be played in empty stadiums, many clubs will suffer financially because some of these clubs rely on gate takings and our local league is not broadcast on television. You find out that in a whole season ZBC will only broadcast three games, so it is really trying times for our league. I think Zifa and PSL should try to source better sponsorship for Zimbabwe league,” Ncube said. – @ZililoR