‘We’ll get there’

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) says delays in adopting electronic gate management system (e-ticketing) is due to efforts to have a validation process that is integrated with all financial institutions and not just one as is the case with its Nitel tickets.

In its manifesto, the association’s current administration promised to introduce e-ticketing as one way of doing away with gate revenue abuse, which is seen as the biggest challenge in gate collection management.

Nevertheless, to date FAM is still using the traditional cash transaction ticketing in all competitions under its jurisdiction, namely Castel Challenge Cup, Airtel Top 8, FDH Bank Cup, as well as all Malawi national teams’ matches.

This is happening when its affiliate Super League of Malawi (Sulom) successfully rolled out the system in the TNM Super League at the start of the season.

But FAM broadcasting and marketing manager Tulipo Mwenelupembe in an interview said they have good reasons for the delay.

He said: “We’ve already had e-ticketing on the ground, because basically e-ticketing is just a system whereby you can issue tickets electronically and then you have the record and the database of what has been sold, which category, at what price, and the quantities, because previously it was manual.

“So with what we’ve been doing with the web tickets, which is managed by Nitel, is already e-ticketing.

‘‘But  the major stumbling block is the validation, whereby you purchase a ticket and then you are scanning at the gates. Nitel have those capabilities, but I think over the years, with poor crowd control and so on and so forth, it’s been difficult to do the scanning at the gates.”

Mwenelupembe said FAM invited companies to express interest to partner with them in e-ticketing and that the association e-ticketing taskforce is still assessing which companies can provide the best services.

He said: “We received proposals from five companies expressing interest to partner with us. So, the e ticketing task force, which was constituted by the ex-co [executive committee], did an evaluation and submitted recommendations to ex-co.

“So, basically, ex-co has given the go ahead to implement as per the FAM president’s guidance and right now, we are at an advanced level of consultation with the stakeholders. I think in terms of the direction on how we’ll proceed, in the next week or two, we should have that information.”

While FAM is dilly-dallying in implementing e-ticketing, their affiliate Sulom has gone full throttle in the cashless selling of tickets in TNM Super League.

The league runners have partnered TNM plc, who are also the league sponsors, to use Mpamba debit card to sell tickets.

After some hitches at the beginning, the process is gaining momentum.

Recently, all tickets for the match between Karonga United and FCB Nyasa Bullets at Karonga Stadium were sold through the platform.

Sulom vice-general secretary Donnex Chilonga described the migration to cashless ticket sales as milestone in gate management.

“As the world embraces the era of digitalisation, e-ticketing will be a catalyst in Malawi as we work on reforming, reviving and rebranding our football,” he said

Chilonga said through e-ticketing they are able to instantly transfer gate revenue shares to teams.

“It also enables the teams to track their revenue through the e-ticketing portal,” he said.

But despite the success story, some football fans are still reluctant to embrace e-ticketing.

Chilonga said Sulom and TNM have been exploring ways of enhancing the e-ticketing experience through awareness and stakeholder engagement aiming to bring all users on board.

He said: “Soccer fans have welcomed the idea although we expect the change from cash tickets to be gradual.

“We need to sensitise the fans on the use of the TNM Mpamba debit card beyond e-ticketing so that they see the broader value of owning one.”

On his part, TNM head of brand and marketing Madalitso Jonazi said the e-ticketing concept is gaining instant adoption among football fans.

 “The e-ticketing service is attracting a lot of interest from football fans and we will continue to build on this positive momentum,” said Jonazi.

But Mwenelupembe said they are looking to introduce a more efficient e-ticketing system which is universal and not just one financial institution.

He said: “Right now, Nitel is integrated with Airtel Money. But like I said, we instructed them that we cannot deal with one financial institution because integration is supposed to be universal.

“Someone should be able to access the tickets through all financial institutions. That is what we are looking for. Once that is done, we will also recommend the same to our affiliates.”

Introduction of e-ticketing has been a challenge for a long time.

In 2022, Ministry of Youth and Sports announced plans to launch Automated Gate Management Policy which will see Bingu National Stadium hosting e-ticketing server that will link all the country’s major stadiums.

The project, which was among Malawi National Council of Sports’ reforms areas, was at an estimated cost of K300 million from South Africa’s TicketPro.

Government planned to install the system at Bingu National Stadium (BNS), Civo Stadium and Kamuzu Stadium. Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) wanted to have the same at Silver Stadium while FAM wanted the Mpira Stadium to have the same technology.

It was envisaged that the Automated Gate Management Policy project would be a joint venture, with BNS acting as the centre for electronic ticketing with the other stadiums linked to it.

Government pledged to buy the mainframe hardware and software to be installed at BNS while the other stadiums would purchase the gadgets for validating barcode on entry tickets at the stadiums.

However, to date the project is yet to take off, leaving the responsibility of introducing e-ticketing on match organisers such as Sulom and FAM.