Zifa’s Burundi tie loss

against Burundi with Government this time chewing the biggest chunk of the gate takings.
The Ministry of Public Works, who are in charge of the National Sports Stadium, took US$24 000 as ground rental from the US$62 920 that was generated from the match.
That figure, which amounts of to 35 percent of the total gross gate takings, is also far much higher than the 15 percent which the Sport and Recreation Commission used to charge when they were directly supervising the facility.
Zifa, who have declared the encounter a loss game, would also have to pay the Sport and Recreation Commission their mandatory six percent, another five percent to the Confederation of African Football while two percent from the revenue will go to Fifa.
The troubled association also had to pay for other service providers like the Zimbabwe Republic Police, private security guards and the ambulance.
But it is the decision by the government to levy 35 percent of the gross gate takings, which left Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze seeing red and questioning the rationale behind the huge demands.
The Zifa chief executive was last night also seriously questioning whether it was still worthwhile to continue using the giant facility for national teams’ assignments.
Ironically the National Sports Stadium has long since been condemned by the players, the fans and even the media with only Zifa standing by the facility which has long lost its glitter as the home of football.
Mashingaidze said it was not sustainable for Zifa or any sporting association in the country to pay 35 percent of gross gate revenue to the government when they were actually expecting treasury to fund the operations of the national team.
The move by the Ministry of Public Works to levy 35 percent for ground rental, an increase of 20 percent from the rate previously charged by the Sports Commission must have also left Zifa probably ruing in hindsight their decision not to stage the match at Rufaro.
Harare City Council charges 20 percent of gross revenue for the use of Rufaro and given the centrality of the ceremonial home of football, there is no doubting there would have been more fans than the 12 109 who paid to watch the Warriors beat Burundi 1-0 at the National Sports Stadium.
The turf at Rufaro would also have given the Warriors the full home advantage they have been longing for.
Mashingaidze insisted that the long-term solution for Zifa to overcome their viability problems would be to have a tripartite partnership with the government and the corporate world.
At the moment Zifa have had to sorely rely on the Warriors as their cash cow.
“At this rate it is not sustainable at all. We need to service the day to day operations of football but when you cannot break even like this how are you going to service the national teams, youth football and even provincial football.
“If we are going to pay such high levies it also defeats the purpose of staging big matches at our biggest stadium. But we are going to appeal to the Ministry of Public Works to review this and possibly refund us.
“If there is no refund then we would have to reconsider our position before our next assignment in September. In terms of conformity to all other statutory requirements the National Stadium fits the bill but the pitch is in such a terrible state you really wonder whether it warrants such a huge charge’’.
Mashingaidze also paid tribute to Mbada Diamonds for bailing Zifa out and revealed that they could have been stuck without winning bonuses for the Warriors given the huge loss they made from the Burundi tie had the miners not come on board.
“We would once again like to thank Mbada Diamonds because if they had not come on board we would have even failed to pay our players. We also want to thank other sponsors like iwayafrica who chipped in, in their different ways.
“There had been expectation that we would pay off most of our creditors after each home game but with this 35 percent of gross which is unheard of going to government there is no way we can everyone at the same time and our creditors would still have to bear with us, w are still very much in the red.
“I must also pay special tribute to all the fans who came and paid their way into the match because they really did it for their national team,’’ Mashingaidze said.
Zifa, Mashingaidze also said, were reviewing the issue of touchline advertising with a view to making more income from advertising. We are going to be very tough with regards perimeter advertising because we can’t have every other company just coming in to erect their advertising boards without paying a cent for it and our marketing committee is already working on that’’.
According to the income, expenditure statement released by Zifa last night the association’s direct match expenses amounted to US$121 551.60 and this included the costs of the Warriors camp at Pandari Lodge, the hosting of Burundi at Courtney Selous hotel, referees airfares, air fares refunds for the foreign-based players, police and the costs of accommodation for the match officials.