SOMHLOLO SHOCKER!

SOCCER – THE muti belief by local teams has resulted in the Somhlolo National Stadium’s E5 million artificial turf being damaged extensively.

This was discovered on Saturday soon after Mbabane Swallows’ MTN League game against Green Mamba, a game which the Mbabane giants won 4 – 2.
Independent investigations by the Swazi Observer sport crew found that the turf has been mysteriously burnt at the centre spot of the pitch.
Actually, after the game, it was discovered that the centre spot was not only burnt but black chicken feathers were found scattered all over the same spot.
Close inspection revealed that the part of the artificial turf was uprooted and underneath were more chicken feathers. The exact extent of the damage could not be established at the time of compiling this report but experts revealed that the estimated repair costs can be estimated at over E100 000.
National Football Association of Swaziland (FA) CEO Frederick Mngomezulu condemned teams for engaging in such distasteful practices.
“This is very bad practice by local teams. We are disappointed by premier league teams as this facility was very expensive to put into place, costing close to E5 million. We are not sure how much it would cost to repair the damage because you may find out that we would have to resurface the whole pitch, which might be too expensive for the country,” Mngomezulu lamented.
Director of Sports and Culture in the Ministry of Sport, Culture and Youth Affairs Maswazi Shongwe said he was still to report the matter to the ministry’s PS and was not in a position to comment.
 “I don’t want to comment on the matter at the moment as we are still going to report the matter to the PS (Principal Secretary) and we will release a press statement afterwards,” he said.
Sought for comment, the Minister in the same ministry, Hlobsile Ndlovu said it was news to her that the pitch has been damaged but mentioned that she would only react once she has received an update from the stadium’s officials.
The turf is hardly a year old as it was constructed under the FIFA’s ‘Win in Africa with Africa’ campaign that saw similar projects being put in place in other countries like Mozambique, Lesotho, Botswana and many more. It could not be immediately ascertained as to who may have caused this damage.

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