daniel chigunwe
Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
PREMIERSHIP newboys Scottland are changing the face of Mabvuku.
They are showing they are in this game for real business and not Mickey Mouse stuff.
Yesterday, the club started work on building a new 15000-seater stadium at the site where the Mabvuku Number One ground was.
The club secured the facility which is in the heart of this proud football-mad neighbourhood on a 30-year-old lease from the Harare City Council.
Scottland intend to establish a CAF-standard stadium along with other sporting amenities including swimming pools, rugby fields and tennis and basketball courts, among other things.
Club chairman Tonderai “Pound” Sakupwanya said they want to turn everything around after the official handover of the facility and subsequent start of construction yesterday.
“We are going to do it in phases. But immediately, we are going to start by constructing the club house.
“It’s not only a stadium, it will be a sporting complex with a swimming pool, tennis, basketball courts and everything else.
“We are simply reviving it to its former glory. We will also have a food court, it’s a big project.
“Look, this is a massive project and we are excited to be spearheading it. We are bringing football to Mabvuku and we have everything planned in place.
“The engineers are on the ground and work is starting right away. I can’t give any timelines but we will move with a lot of speed.
“Our dream has always been to bring football to Mabvuku and the first step was to come up with the team in the Premiership. We have the first step done and we are moving into the next.”
Scottland have collaborated with other partners, including Ecobank, in the construction of the facility.
Ecobank senior executive, Mike Dengwane, told the media that his organisation was excited to work with Scottland.
“We have already opened bank accounts for all the football players at Scottland. We are also going to put even some guarantees when they do transfers, moving from one club to the other, we are going to do that facilitation.
“The Scottland bus is powered by Ecobank and we are looking forward to injecting more sponsorship for Scottland.
“The players have also been empowered to access loans.
“We are here to help Scottland come up with a state-of-the-art stadium in Mabvuku, which is actually their home. We are here to support that initiative.
“Our relationship with Scottland is not a fly-by-night thing, we are looking forward to working with them for a long time to come.”
Online Reporter