Derby grosses K39m
The latest episode of the Blantyre derby, which featured age-old rivals Nyasa Big Bullets and Be Forward Wanderers, grossed K39.2 million.
The most sought-after fixture, which returned to Kamuzu Stadium on Saturday after almost two years, attracted a big turnout despite the cheapest ticket being pegged at K2 500 as a way of crowd control following world football governing body Fifa’s recommendation to trim the capacity to 14 600 from 22 000.
From the proceeds, the two teams and ground owners, Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development, each got about K8.6 million.
Super League of Malawi (Sulom) and Football Association of Malawi (FAM) got about K3.4 million each while the Malawi National Council of Sports pocketed about K1.7 million with the rest being shared among other stakeholders.
Bullets, who were the host side, said they were contented with gate management.
Said the People’s Team chief executive officer Fleetwood Haiya on Friday: “Honestly, we are overwhelmed with the revolution in terms of game and gate management.
“The outsourced gate management company as well as security; thus the Police, stewards and teams’ stewards did a very commendable job and we will ensure that strict and sound gate and security management are maintained.
“Let me also thank our ‘neba’ [Wanderers] with whom we now have a good cordial working relationship and with coordinated efforts we managed to mitigate kuthyola khobwe [stealing gate revenue].”
Haiya also thanked supporters from both teams for coming in large numbers and exercising discipline.
“It is our hope that this will continue.”
On the other hand, Wanderers chairperson Gift Mkandawire also described the gross revenue as satisfactory.
“I think we did very well considering the reduced capacity.
“The organisation was also good, a thing that has not happened in quite a while. So, hopefully, we can build up from there,” he said.
Sulom treasurer Tiya Somba-Banda said the gross revenue was within their projection
“And we would like to applaud the fans for coming in numbers to cheer their beloved teams and also for being orderly,”
The TNM Super League second round showdown ended one-all after Bullets’ Fischer Kondowe cancelled Esau Kanyenda’s first-half strike.
