Mzuzu, March 3, 2016:Despite tall grass and potholes being notable things at the Mzuzu Stadium’s playing field, Mzuzu City Council (MCC) insists the venue will be ready in good time to host the 2016 TNM Super League matches.
The stadium is set to be home ground for three teams based in the region in the 2016 league campaign namely Moyale Barracks FC, Chilumba Barracks and Mzuzu University (Mzuni) FC who dramatically survived the chop last season.
With the new football season scheduled to start on April 9, a visit by Mana at the only major soccer arena in the north Tuesday revealed that the work to repair the pitch is in progress, though at a snail’s pace.
In the 2015 football season, most visiting sides have been complaining about the potholes on the playing field and the bad condition of toilets at the Mzuzu Stadium.
Speaking in an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana), MCC Stadium Supervisor, Nathan Kuyokwa, conceded that the efforts to repair the pitch have been slow, but insisted everything would be in place before the start of the new soccer calendar.
“We are currently embarking on an effort to remove the unwanted weeds on the pitch and later we will cover the potholes with top soil.
“The problems of potholes and hygiene in the toilets have been the public outcry for so long, but this time around we will make sure that these issues are things of the past and come April, spectators will see some improvements,” he said.
Kuyokwa, however, observed that since three teams will be using one pitch for hosting home matches, it will add pressure to the facility, hence called all parties to be patriotic.
“Whenever this stadium hosts two matches every weekend of football [as it was the case last season], you find that someone has deliberately broken a toilet object and water is just spilling all over the place, which takes time to repair,” he added.
He said this season the city council will set aside funds for maintaining toilets at the end of each and every game and urged spectators to take responsibility of how best to utilize every facility in the stadium.