Harare teams in a fix

Tadious Manyepo Sports Reporter

HARARE-based Castle Lager Premier Soccer League clubs could be forced to play at least three of their next home matches outside the capital as the National Sports Stadium would have to be re-inspected after the completion of minor refurbishments that are currently underway.

The Premier Soccer League enforced a three-week break to the league marathon a fortnight ago to pave the way for engineers to address water reticulation issues at the Harare facility and also allow the overused turf to regenerate.

Eight teams including Dynamos, CAPS United, Black Rhinos, ZPC Kariba, Herentals, Yadah, Cranborne Bullets and Simba Bhora have been using the stadium as their home venue for the past three months.

On average, the ground has been hosting four matches every week resulting in the massive degrading of the playing turf

Once the owners of the facility made a decision to fix water reticulation and look at the rejuvenation of the playing turf, PSL decided to abruptly shelf all fixtures as they didn’t have any contingency plan at hand.

They have however learnt their lessons and they have asked all clubs to submit at least two venues where they would host matches upon agreeing with the owners of the facilities.

By late yesterday, only Dynamos, Cranborne Bullets, Herentals, Yadah and CAPS United had not forwarded at least one stadium. With the PSL reaffirming their position to resume the league on July 1, it is highly likely that the National Sports Stadium would still be unavailable.

Once the works being done at the giant stadium finish, the ground will also be re-inspected before PSL action can be allowed back

Rufaro Stadium renovations are still ongoing although the City of Harare have reassured the nation that the venue will be ready for PSL by the end of this month.

Of course, that will be subject to the facility passing the hefty ZIFA First Instance Board’s homologation test.

And as it stands, all the eight teams who have been hosting their guests in Harare in the opening 12 weeks of the marathon will be forced to play their home games outside the capital.

There are chances though that Morris Depot Stadium would be back with Herentals understood to be negotiating for a lease with the owners of the ground.

But for now, they will have to look for an alternative venue pending inspection and certification of the stadium.

Black Rhinos have already made a move and they will be playing their home matches at Bata Stadium in Gweru after agreeing terms with the stadium owners.

The ground is the home of newboys Sheasham.

Black Rhinos spokesperson Colonel Edward Mutukwa confirmed the army team will be playing their home games at Bata.

“The deal is done and dusted. We will be using Bata Stadium as our home ground for the remainder of the campaign,” he said.

“We are happy as a club that we have finally struck a deal that will see us playing all our home games in Gweru at Bata Stadium”.

Simba Bhora have also settled for Baobab with the Shamva team believed to have agreed terms with the Ngezi Platinum Stars facility authorities.

PSL spokesperson Kudzi Bare yesterday said all teams were expected to submit at least two venues they would host their opponents to make it easy for the PSL to fixture matches.

“We are expecting all the teams to submit the two venues they would like to play at for their home matches.

“Most of the teams have already done so but others asked for some time to negotiate with stadium owners. But by the end of day today (yesterday), we believe that all the teams would have submitted the information”.