Clubs want derby charges slashed
Domestic football powerhouses—Nyasa Big Bullets and Be Forward Wanderers—have said the K2 000 (about $3) revised charges for derby matches is unrealistic and want it reduced ahead of the Blantyre derby scheduled for Saturday at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre..
The development comes just days before the three derbies scheduled for this weekend in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu.
Apart from the Blantyre derby, on Sunday Civo United will take on their capital city rivals Silver Strikers at Civo Stadium and in Mzuzu, Moyale will engage Mzuzu University (Mzuni) at Mzuzu Stadium.
A meeting held on the sidelines of a gate management workshop last month, resolved that the cheapest ticket for any derby should be K2 000, but Super League of Malawi (Sulom) has slashed the charges for Lilongwe and Mzuzu derbies on recommendation from the clubs.
Sulom general secretary (GS) Williams Banda on Wednesday said only charges for the Blantyre derby had been maintained at K2 000.
A Bangwe Township-based Wanderers fan Stefano Wilson pleaded with the organisers to consider reducing the gate charges.
“They need to consider us the poor who fill the open stands. It is not easy to raise K2 000 considering the current economic situation.”
But a Ndirande-based Bullets fan Numeri Lackson, who sells soft drinks at Ginnery Corner, described the K2 000 entry fee as fair.
“The match is being played at the end of the month, so I feel the K2 000 fee is realistic as clubs also need to benefit from the proceeds,” he said.
Wanderers general secretary Mike Butao and Bullets acting GS Kelvin Moyo said during the stakeholders meeting, they raised a similar concern that the K2 000 fee was unrealistic.
Butao said: “We had already complained during the gate-management workshop [last month] that considering the current economic climate, the K2 000 fee was on the higher side. We will be consulting our counterparts [Bullets] and then make a joint determination at tomorrow’s [today] meeting,” he said.
Moyo said on the other hand said: “To be realistic, considering the current economic situation, it is difficult for the common man to raise that much,” he said. n
