‘BIRDS’ ‘REJECT’ MAVUSO FOR ‘WESLIANS’ CLASH

MBABANE – Capital city giants Mbabane Swallows are against the idea of hosting fellow giants Manzini Wanderers at Mavuso Sports Centre, this coming Friday.

This was said by General Manager (GM) Sandile ‘Beyond 2000’ Zwane, during yesterday’s Eswatini Broadcasting and Information Services (EBIS 1) Sports Show, hosted by Moses ‘Mthetho’ Matsebula, when addressing the issue of the mayhem which occurred this past Saturday after the epic clash against sworn rivals Mbabane Highlanders. The red and white capital city giants’ supporters invaded the field in pursuit of referee Thembinkosi Dlamini as they wanted to ‘skin him alive’ after ruling against a goal by Felix ‘Fela’ Badenhorst, which would have levelled matters against Highlanders. The game eventually ended 2-1 in favour of Inkunzi Emnyama, as Highlanders are fondly known.

biggest

The former national team Sihlangu manager said the game against Manzini Wanderers was one of the biggest matches in local football and the Mavuso Sports Centre was not an ideal venue to play host to a game of such a magnitude, as it was not safe. “We are going to play Wanderers, but if there was a chance we would have requested the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) to look at not hosting the game at Mavuso; this is a big game and  this venue does not have security fence; it is a danger on its own in such games,” Zwane said.

quality

He said since the match officials did not give teams quality refereeing during games, anything was possible during this coming game. He urged the PLE to wait for the refurbishing of the Somhlolo National Stadium to be completed, to host the game there to avoid violence, as Somhlolo had a security fence around the pitch. “They should wait for Somhlolo as it has security, otherwise people will die during games at Mavuso,” he said. The former Umkhonto KaShaka goalkeeper said all the football stakeholders should hold an Indaba, where the root cause of the violence in stadia should be found and a way forward sought.

This is the second incident in a space of a month to be witnessed in local football, as Highlanders were also involved in a skirmish, as some of their supporters wanted to assault seasoned referee Mbongeni Shongwe, for allowing a goal scored by Manzini Sea Birds’ Sandumuzi Zwane by a hand. The black and white capital giants were hauled before the Eswatini Football Association Disciplinary Committee (DC), where they were fined E70 000 and played the game against Tambuti behind closed doors.

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