adminSikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
THE Castle Lager Premier Soccer League will soon zero in on vendors who they suspect smuggle alcoholic beverages into stadia, leading to drunkenness that causes hooliganism.
Consultations are already underway with municipalities and the PSL eager to have a register of all licensed vendors who will then be accredited after paying an agreed fee that will also see clubs receiving some revenue from the hawkers’ business.
“Our belief is that, once we pay for the use of the venue we must have full control of the stadium because it would have been paid for. Vendors have to be controlled too because we strongly believe that some of them are responsible for the alcohol that ends up at our matches.
“How else can you explain the discovery of 23 bottles of hot stuff like what happened in our last match at Barbourfields Stadium?” asked PSL chief executive officer, Kennedy Ndebele.
He said some council employees could also be involved in the smuggling of the spirits into stadiums.
“Some of the spirits could be smuggled a day before the match because 23 bottles are just too many, especially when we have police searching,” said Ndebele.
Investigations by Chronicle Sport revealed that some vendors, especially those who sell ice cream hide the spirits inside their carts as they are rarely searched at the turnstiles.
The more enterprising fans stuff a whole bottle of the hotstuff in a loaf of bread and then move in undetected.
Bread is not confiscated at the turnstiles so they easily get in with security details believing that one would be carrying their lunch into the stadium.
Bongani Moyo
Online Reporter