Somhlolo artificial turf damaged again

SOCCER – THE Somhlolo National Stadium’s artificial turf is slowly turning into a sorry sight after it was discovered yesterday that it has been damaged again.
This was before the start of the MTN League game pitting Mbabane Highlanders and Manzini Wanderers, which had to be delayed for about 10 minutes as match officials tried to repair the damages on the pitch found at the centre.  Actually, a big hole was found at the centre and match officials decided that the game would not start until it had been repaired as it could have injured the players. Inside this hole were raffled feathers, eggs and coconuts.
It was further discovered that even all the four corner-kick areas had some holes with the same strange stuff and apparently, the turf was dug up.  The discovery caused a bit of drama as match commissioner Philemon Mkhaliphi had to organise natural grass to fill up the big hole at the centre of the pitch before the match could commence, prompting murmurs of disbelief from those present at the stadium as it was a clear case of muti at work.  However, the culprits to the turf damages are unknown at the moment but this likely to land the National Football Association (FA) is trouble with FIFA over this E5 million artificial turf project.
Already, the country’s football mother body has had to submit a report to FIFA on the previous damages to the pitch and the latest could seriously hinder the country’s chances of benefiting from such projects in future.    

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