Football Association of Malawi (Fam) has put its foot down by ordering its affiliate, Super League of Malawi (Sulom), not to fix any match at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre.<\/p>\n
The association\u2019s order comes two days after the Minister of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development, Henry Mussa, insisted that the facility will, after month-long renovations, remain open.<\/p>\n
But Fam, through its General Secretary, Alfred Gunda, has written Sulom to exempt the stadium from games so as to pave way for the government\u2019s renovations.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet us work with the Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development to ensure that the repairs are done within a reasonable time frame and football can safely resume at the stadium,\u201dGunda stated in the letter.<\/p>\n
The GS copied the letter to the Director of Sports, Jameson Ndalama, Malawi National Council of Sports Executive Secretary, George Jana, Sulom General Secretary, Williams Banda, and National Referees Association Chairperson, Patrick Kapanga.<\/p>\n
Gunda has since advised Southern Region teams to use alternative venues for home matches while waiting for the renovations.<\/p>\n
However, Banda was elusive when asked for a reaction to Fam\u2019s order, saying he needs to consult teams.<\/p>\n
In an interview, Gunda could neither confirm nor deny issuing the order to Sulom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not going to say anything on that issue\u2026 whether concerning our expectations or anything about it. It is a government facility and the owners are speaking. So let the government speak,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A source in Sulom said Fam is unhappy with the minister\u2019s order, saying the government is politicising the issue.<\/p>\n
During Labour Day commemorations in Blantyre on Monday, Mussa said, following President Peter Mutharika\u2019s intervention, the government will provide resources for the maintenance of the facility.<\/p>\n
Among other things, Mussa said the stadium\u2019s artificial turf will be replaced by natural grass.<\/p>\n
The minister\u2019s comments came days after Fam declared the facility as unfit for hosting Super League games, to spark protests from Nyasa Big Bullets and Be Forward Wanderers fans.<\/p>\n
The fans, largely unhappy that they will be denied the loot from gate revenue, have threatened to stage mass demonstrations against the closure of the stadium.<\/p>\n
It is also reported that the planned demonstrations have been called off following Mussa\u2019s sentiments.<\/p>\n
Bullets Chairperson, Noel Lipipa, has since said that the team\u2019s management will discuss the issue, adding that they were confused by the conflicting remarks from the government and Fam.<\/p>\n
Following a joint assessment and inspection by Sulom last month, Fam said the stadium\u2019s toilets, tunnels, covered stands and cordoned off open terraces need urgent attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) has put its foot down by ordering its affiliate, Super League of Malawi (Sulom), not to fix any match at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre. The association\u2019s order comes two days after the Minister of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development, Henry Mussa, insisted that the facility will, after month-long renovations, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45685,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45684\/revisions\/45685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}