NATIONAL STADIUM MISSING IN ACTION Venue ‘red-carded’ by damaged pitch
PREMIER League football finally returns this weekend; however, it does so without the National Stadium.
The venue, which sits 25 000, is unavailable until at least the middle of next month and will not be used to host a single match in the first five rounds of BPL fixtures.
Badly damaged during the Independence Day celebrations, the pitch is currently undergoing maintenance as ground-staff work around the clock to restore the tattered turf to playing standard.
According to Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) Marketing and Communications Manager, Modiri Ontitile, the restoration effort includes spreading manure on the grass to get it green and level again.
“The pitch is responding well, we expect it will be ready by mid November,” he told Voice Sport.
Insisting the stadium’s unavailability will not affect clubs based in and around the capital city, Ontitile said, “They have been using Lobatse Sports Complex and Molepolole Sports Complex respectively as their home grounds or sometimes other available facilities, which are not under BNSC management.”
However, Gaborone United’s Brand and Marketing Manager, Herbert Letsebe, is not so sure.
“We will be forced to play our home games outside Gaborone, which will be costly. In addition, this will also affect our supporters thus becoming a deciding factor of attendance of our home games,” predicted Letsebe.
Despite these grievances, Letsebe stressed GU had made peace with the decision.
“We have met with the National Stadium management and they have explained that the pitch is still under maintenance because it has been hosting so many activities. We understood as we were looking at the bigger picture, which is for the stadium to be ready to play the beautiful game.”