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Lovemore Dube Senior Sports Editor
THE Fifa World Cup fever has gripped Bulawayo ahead of the official opening of the world’s biggest football extravaganza in Sao Paulo, Brazil tomorrow.
Several companies have prepared themselves for the football fiesta which promises a lot of thrills.
Thomas Shuro, a spokesperson for Fazak Home and Hyper in the city, said his company, which is based in Woodlands, would have a 500 inch screen for football enthusiasts at their premises.
“It is going to be a massive screen. We are trying to revive Bulawayo’s vibrancy. At the moment we are working on getting about 500 glasses so that fans can have access to high definition.
“We believe in Bulawayo and we are saying beginning with the World Cup where we have come up with a family fun park, let’s bring the city back to life and we are harbouring ambitions of a drive inn after the tournament,” said Shuro.
He said they would be running an in-store World Cup promotion and five-a-side soccer for school children.
“In line with our company directors’ religion, we want to create a family environment where parents can come with their children. So there would be no beer sold, we have to send the right message to teenagers out there,” he said.
Shuro said the Minister of State for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Nomthandazo Moyo, would be the guest of honour at tomorrow’s launch of their fun park to which she would be accompanied by the Minister of Small to Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development, Sithembiso Nyoni.
The Fazak spokesperson also disclosed that the Mayor of Bulawayo Martin Moyo and his deputy Gift Banda would watch the opening match pitting hosts Brazil and Croatia on the giant screen which would be mounted until July 13 when the final is played.
A leading city shop, Carol’s Sportswear, has stocked World Cup jerseys for almost all the teams taking part in the tournament.
“Business has been roaring. These jerseys have been selling well and we need to bring more to quench the market demand. Just last week someone from Botswana bought as many as 20 tops. We are in the process of organising the shipment of more and surprisingly African teams Algeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria have been selling well,” said Juliet Dube, a salesperson at the shop.
Several city bars said they were stocking up in anticipation of business to be generated by the tournament.
Soccer continues to be the biggest unifier of communities because of its universal appeal.
derick.khumalo