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Eddie Chikamhi
Senior Sports Reporter
THE Premier Soccer League have urged clubs to engage the fans more through various initiatives so as to boost attendance figures in the upcoming season.
The league’s spokesperson Kudzai Bare told The Herald yesterday that the football leadership are working around the clock to win back the interest of the local fans who apparently had deserted the stadia last year due to a number of factors.
Bare said they have held workshops with the clubs and sponsors Delta Beverages recently in search for solutions before the start of the season.
Bare said clubs will need to engage with their fans as part of the implementation process following the three-day induction and strategic plan review workshop held in Bulawayo two weeks ago.
“We started off with a brain-storming session with the sponsors where we came up with ideas on where we need to improve our game.
“And then recently we held an induction workshop with the newly-promoted clubs and we also did the strategic plan review workshop with both old and new clubs in Bulawayo to make sure that the clubs are familiar with how we do business as PSL.
“We touched on various other things during the workshop, including marketing and we are also encouraging clubs to have their own strategic plans, which are aligned to the PSL one.
“Generally we are happy with what was discussed at the workshop and we are now working on implementation.
“We are encouraging the clubs to continue reaching out to their fans so that we get more people coming to the games this year. Last year the attendance was low and we believe we can only get solutions to that challenge through engaging the fans themselves,” said Bare.
The PSL fans will need to up their game to win back the fans. Football matches were played in virtually empty stadiums last year as the local league struggled to come back post-Covid-19.
There were less than 3 000 fans when Dynamos hosted traditional football rivals Highlanders in the Battle of Zimbabwe at the National Sports Stadium last year.
Attendances have been dropping even before the pandemic. The traditional giants that are known to command a huge following have been finding it difficult.
The smaller teams suffered more.
The fans have raised a number of concerns including the declining standards of the game, Covid-19 fatigue and the costs of travelling to football matches.
Some football fans have suggested that gate charges should be reduced from US$3 to US$1. However, the PSL maintained the US$3 for the cheapest ticket was a fair price considering what is obtaining in the region.
Ironically, while traditional giants Dynamos and CAPS United were struggling to fill up the terraces, rivals Highlanders did not encounter similar challenges as most of their home matches attracted decent crowds.
The reverse league fixture between Highlanders and Dynamos in Bulawayo attracted an estimated 15 000 fans.
Apart from the attendances, the PSL have also been dealing with the problem of violence and hooliganism which resurfaced last season.
Bare said more workshops with club security personnel and the Zimbabwe Republic Police will be held to improve crowd controls this coming season.
“We have planned workshops with the security personnel of all the clubs and we will be working closely with the Zimbabwe Republic Police to make sure that hooliganism and violence and football matches will not happen again.
“Hooliganism and violence are bad for our football because it endangers both fans, players and officials alike as well as destruction of property and paints the game in bad light. In fact, anything that generates negative publicity is bad for the brand and image of the PSL.
“The league is working hard to maintain positivity. We would want to have more sponsors coming to partner the game, fans flocking to the stadiums and also to improve the quality of the game,” said Bare.
The Premier Soccer League are also entering into the final year of their sponsorship deal with Delta Beverages. This year, the league welcomes four new entrants in Sheasham, Simba Bhora, Green Fuel and returnees Hwange.
The good thing about the upcoming season is that there have not been negativity surrounding the game itself, unlike last season when some newly-promoted clubs faced the ignominy of being kicked out before they had kicked a ball for failure to raise affiliation fees.
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