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Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
EACH time the football governing body, Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA), through its First Instance Body (FIB) committee, decides to suspend Sakubva Stadium from hosting top-flight league matches, many people in Mutare focus on the missed opportunities of watching their favourite teams and stars in action at Manicaland’s biggest sports facility.
Sakubva Stadium was suspended from hosting top-flight league matches after a goalpost collapsed during a Premiership encounter and the turf had also deteriorated owing to overuse.
For die-hard football fans, the thought of travelling about 100km week-in week-out to the nearest match venue, Vengere Stadium in Rusape, which usually is presented as the alternative, sickening as it has always been, quickly comes to mind.
For administrators of Premier Soccer League football clubs based in Mutare, the thought of suddenly having to dig deeper into their pockets to meet the costly expenses of travelling to Rusape to fulfil their home fixtures, quickly comes to mind.
Be that as it may, there is a usually overlooked business angle to the whole matrix which normally leaves the city poorer, as Mutare service providers lose business that comes with Sakubva Stadium hosting Premiership matches.
Golden Peacock Vila Hotel, for example, has been hosting a number of Premiership clubs since the start of the 2021/2022 Castle Lager Premiership season, at times providing accommodation to two teams for two or three nights per week.
Golden Peacock general manager, Adonis Mutigwe admitted that the suspension of Sakubva Stadium from hosting top-flight league matches has negatively affected their business.
“While it is a commendable gesture to upgrade sporting facilities, the banning of the stadium has negatively affected the momentum our hotel has been building. Our occupancies, revenues and brand outreach has been affected by the ban.
“We were hosting teams every week and these opportunities to sell the Golden Peacock and Manicaland brand has suffered due to the ban.
“We hope the authorities can speed up the renovations process,” said Mutigwe.
Business opportunities that come with Sakubva Stadium hosting Premiership matches go beyond Golden Peacock Villa Hotel.
Supermarkets, grocery retailers, ambulance service providers, motor vehicle repair and fuel companies have been doing great business during weekends from selling ice, food, tissues, fuel, distilled water and other services that visiting clubs want.
Security protocols for Premiership matches demand the presence of police officers during matches and local officers made an extra dollar from the important role they played during top-flight league football matches at Sakubva Stadium.
Vendors who sell groundnuts, fried liver, popcorns, ice-cream and beverages at Sakubva Stadium each time there is a Premiership football match might not be making millions, but the small proceeds meant so much to their families.
But Sakubva Stadium remains suspended from hosting Premiership football matches until City of Mutare notifies ZIFA of the completion of the renovations of areas that the FIB highlighted when the facility was suspended.
While new goalposts have already been installed, for reasons best known by the local authority, City of Mutare still remains adamant that they need to do more before they invite the ZIFA FIB to inspect the facility.
City of Mutare spokesperson, Spren Mutiwi, on Tuesday said:
“We have not completed the renovations, it is work in progress. We will advise you when we are done. There are items (not specified) we are waiting for so that we do comprehensive job.”
Thus, even though procedure demands that the custodians of the stadium inform ZIFA of the need for re-inspection, Mutare-based Premiership outfit, Manica Diamonds went out of their way and took it upon themselves to notify ZIFA of the need for FIB to come and re-inspect the facility.
The Gem Boys chairman, Masimba Chihowa said:
“We wrote to ZIFA FIB informing them of the need to come and re-inspect the facility because we feel it now meets the minimum standards that is required and more importantly we feel the stadium now meets the minimum standards of other stadia across the country.
“We hope and pray that the custodians of the stadium will also play ball and appreciate the glaring need to have the Sakubva Stadium suspension lifted soon than later.”
Sakubva Stadium has been suspended from hosting Premiership matches countless times in the past because of reasons that range from poor maintenance, overuse and at times, heavy handedness on the part of those mandated to homologate the facilities.
Events leading to the recent suspension, which was largely justified, saw the stadium being used from Tuesday to Friday every week by three different teams for training with the first club coming in from 8am to 10am, the next one from 10am to around 1pm.
The last team of the day would use the facility from 2pm to 5pm.
During some Fridays, Eastern Region Division One teams and women football teams took turns to use Sakubva Stadium as their home ground for league matches.
Saturday and Sunday, the stadium was reserved for competitive Castle Lager Premiership matches where four teams – Craneborne Bullets, Black Rhinos, Tenax C.S FC and Manica Diamonds – took turns to host their opponents of the day.
Monday was the only day of the week when Sakubva Stadium had a chance to get meaningful maintenance works and this left Manicaland’s ceremonial home of football in a terrible state, especially the turf.
The most welcome move by Harare Premiership teams, Black Rhinos and Craneborne Bullets to shift base to Vengere Stadium in Rusape eased the pressure on Sakubva Stadium.
However, of late, the stadium, especially has greatly improved since its suspension by FIB and the new goalposts have been installed warranting a FIB re-inspection, perhaps for the benefit of not only fans and teams based in Mutare, but also for businesses operators in the eastern border city.
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