Silver Strikers have accepted to play their opening TNM Super League home match against FCB Nyasa Bullets at Bingu National Stadium (BNS) in Lilongwe on Saturday.
For weeks, the Bankers had been protesting against Super League of Malawi’s (Sulom) decision to fix the match at BNS instead of their Silver Stadium backyard.
In an interview yesterday, the Bankers’ chief executive officer Patrick Chimimba said they have “reluctantly” given up on the issue.
“We have just decided not to pursue it any further, but we are still not happy,” he said.
The decision came a day after the Reserve Bank of Malawi-sponsored side issued a statement expressing their disappointment with how Sulom was handling the matter.
Reads the statement: “Silver Strikers FC is deeply concerned with how the Super League of Malawi has neglected to address our legitimate concerns regarding scheduling of our opening fixture against FCB Nyasa Bullets at Bingu National Stadium.
“Despite our repeated efforts to engage Sulom profesionally and amicably, our concerns have been disregarded and their approach to resolving this matter has been both dismissive and authoritarian.”
In the statement, Silver present a chronology of events to demonstrate that the league-runners failed to address their concerns.
It further reads: “Their actions contradict the fairness, transparency and inclusivity principles they claim to uphold under their ‘Revive, Reform and Rebrand’ initiative.
“We call upon Sulom to demonstrate leadership and integrity by fostering constructive dialogue rather than issuing ultimatums.”
But Sulom vice-president Ronald Chiwaula reiterated that they have nothing against Silver.
He said: “As stated earlier, the decision to have the launch game at BNS was made to accommodate the sponsor’s interest in line with their marketing activities.
“We will continue to engage them on the matter.”
