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MBABANE – Mbabane Swallows’ win over Madlenya FC on Saturday got the giants maximum points, but potentially cost them over E10 000.

Swallows supporters and football lovers have denied the Caleb Ngwenya-led side over E10 000 in gate collections after many of them were seen watching the game against Madlenya outside the Prince of Wales Sports Ground.

The club General Manager (GM) Sandile ‘Beyond 2000’ Zwane had earlier on said that club marshals together, with municipalities workers would not allow supporters to be around anywhere outside the ground but that was not the case on Saturday afternoon when Swallows defeated the William Gamedze-led team 3-1.

Many Swallows fans were seen watching their team outside the Stadium and on estimation, it was more than 200 supporters who watched the game for free. The POW had visible hundreds of supporters around outside the sports ground while some watched the match enjoying their beverages at the Mbabane Club and in both ends of the entrance of the tiny stadium.

‘Beyond 2000’ when reached said it was true that many football supporters were all over the perimeters of the sports ground and highlighted that they tried to remove them but in vain. “We tried to remove the supporters but they would return again in big numbers. We ended up resolving to look at the situation at that time. Doing that was going to cause a lot of noise, especially because the club was on the spotlight. Most of the supporters were not from Swallows but generally football lovers that were interested in our game and the Young Buffaloes match.

“We thank the behaviour of the day from the Swallows supporters on Saturday. This is the behaviour of the team that we know. The supporters’ behaviour was very good on the day,’’ he said.

Zwane further said it was hurting the team’s coffers when supporters watched games outside the stadiums, especially at POW. “We don’t encourage it because it is hurting the teams. We encourage the supporters to always watch the game’s inside the stadiums so that teams can be able to survive through the gate collections,” he said.

The general manager went on to thank the PLE for allowing the game to play at POW and hoped that many of the club home games would now be played at the venue.