National Sports

Sulom to reintroduce gate charges for fans

Super League of Malawi (Sulom) has reintroduced gate charges for TNM Super League matches following the partial relaxing of Covid-19 precautionary measures.

The decision comes after the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 last week announced the easing of outdoor public gatherings restriction from 100 to 250 people.

Sulom general secretary Williams Banda said in an interview yesterday that in the past those allowed to watch TNM Super League matches were not paying, but now they will have to pay.

Fans queue at Kamuzu Stadium to pay at the gates before restrictions were imposed

However, he said only fans that are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be allowed access to the matches.

Banda said: “Following  the relaxation  of the Covid-19 restrictions  for outdoors gatherings from 100 to 250, we will be allowing  those that got the jab or have negative  test certification  not more than 48 hours old to be among  the few to pay.”

He said the gate revenue will help the league runners to  pay for security expenses.

“One of the major challenges of playing without fans is security.  Having few that will watch the matches pay will go a long way to help in paying for security costs while teams will be able to meet other costs,” said Banda.

Clubs have since welcomed the development, saying they were losing revenue by allowing people to access matches for free.

“Even the few that attend matches must indeed pay,” said Nyasa Big Bullets chief administration officer Albert Chigoga.

However, the request is yet to reach the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, according to the task force’s co-chairperson Wilfred Chalamira Nkhoma.

Nkhoma said in the meantime the restrictions mean that people in outdoor public gatherings, including football matches should not exceed 250”.

“For football matches this includes players, officials, supporters and all the people involved in organising matches,” he said.

The Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 announced the relaxed Covid-19 restrictions last week.

Football Association of Malawi wanted the number of supporters allowed to watch matches increased.

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