Times Of Swaziland: ‘BULL’S REQUEST REJECTED

‘BULL’S REQUEST REJECTED
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BY CHRIS DLAMINI on 21/03/2019 08:35:00


MBABANE – Sorry Mbabane Highlanders, it’s going to be a double-header on the
capital city derby day.
Highlanders are hosts of the MTN Premier League big derby clash, the biggest
fixture in the land between the black and white side and defending champions
Mbabane Swallows. It is now official –instead of the EswatiniBank Cup
quarter-finals this month end, it will be the MTN League which includes the
mouth-watering derby, billed for March 31 at Somhlolo National Stadium.
“We’ve released the fixture, you can refer to it,” responded Premier
League of Eswatini (PLE) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Simanga Nhleko when
questioned on their response regarding the request for a single header which
Highlanders forwarded early this month allegedly through a letter.
indicates
The fixture which was released yesterday indicates Green Mamba and Wanderers
will start at 1:30pm before the two capital city giants battle it out at 3:30pm.
Nhleko also confirmed this would be a Y’ello Sunday as well as the sponsor’s
Meshack Maseko, who had said earlier that they had never had a single header
Y’ello Sunday.
Y’ello Sunday is the day that MTN Eswatini chooses along with the fixtures to
market its products and also share with the fans various prizes like airtime,
mobile money and cellphones among other things.
Other fixtures will be played a day before the big clashes which could decide
the top five standings in the league title race.
games
However, even before the weekend games after the FIFA break which ends next
Tuesday. There will be league games on Wednesday night in four venues being
Somhlolo National Stadium at Lobamba, Nsukuwansuku Stadium at Mhlume, and Mavuso
Sports Centre in Manzini as well as Mayaluka Stadium in Big-Bend.
The full fixtures from next Wednesday to the weekend will be printed at the end
of the story. Meanwhile, Highlanders’ CEO Thulani Khumalo said they also
received the fixture.
disappointed
“We are disappointed obviously but it’s an official fixture from PLE. We can
only focus on preparing the team for the next two games as we know every
remaining fixture will be like a final for us,” he said.
Khumalo had explained in the initial story published by our sister newspaper
that their request was based on commercial purposes and they had already seen
precedence of how powerful the big derby fixture is even as a single header. It
happened once in the EswatiniBank Cup.
Worth mentioning is that both Highlanders are still in contention for the league
title with six games remaining and Royal Leopard are at the summit. Furthermore,
the top five clubs still have head-to-head fixtures.