Sikhumbuzo Moyo Senior Sports Reporter
TSHOLOTSHO Football Club are furious with the Bulawayo City Council’s decision to carry out maintenance work at White City Stadium resulting in their must-win tie against FC Platinum tomorrow being shifted to Luveve Stadium.
Council began work to level the White City Stadium pitch this week, but Tsholotsho believe playing the Midlanders on the bumpy surface would have been to their (Tsholotsho) advantage as they have become accustomed to the venue, which they say is more compact compared to the wider Luveve Stadium, whose turf is also heavy.
“While we can’t tell the Bulawayo City Council when to carry its maintenance work at its properties, we find it rather strange that they have decided to do that at this stage of the season. We were told the stadium will be closed just for a week so why couldn’t they wait for a free weekend when the national team will be playing Lesotho, or even when we have an away fixture?” said Tsholotsho chairman Mlamuli Phiri.
He said for the municipality to say the field was bumpy and needed to be levelled ahead of their survival match against FC Platinum sounded suspicious and was totally unfair to his club.
“We tried to have our game postponed to next week, but we were told that the national team will be in action, which is quite understandable, but then the City Council should also have carried out their maintenance work during that free week,” said Phiri.
A council employee, who requested anonymity, said the timing of the maintenance work was suspicious as it was always known that the pitch was bumpy and council could have simply carried out its maintenance work when Tsholotsho was playing away, “especially since only a week is needed for the venue to be accessible again”.
“I also don’t see any difference between this week and next week. It is such ill-timed decisions that raise a lot of eyebrows. Our council has always been known to do things well above board and transparently,” said the employee. Two senior council employees from the City’s housing and community services department, one Sivela and Nyoni, both refused to comment about the issue.
Sivela referred questions to Nyoni, who first asked what the inquiry was about before referring this publication to the public relations department.
BCC spokesperson Nesisa Mpofu could not be reached for comment as her phone continuously rang unanswered.
Tsholotsho were hoping to build on their morale boosting 2-1 win over How Mine at the same venue by handing the platinum miners their first league defeat in the second half of the season.
Despite a change in venue, Iziqholo zeZhwane are still hopeful of causing an upset, with Phiri saying the “unfortunate shift of base” would not distract them.