Bullets, Moyale query K4.5m gate revenue

Football stakeholders have expressed dissatisfied with the K4.5 million revenue collected from a midweek TNM Super League match between Moyale Barracks and Nyasa Big Bullets at Mzuzu Stadium.

Teams and ground owners received K889 045 each.

In an interview yesterday, Mzuzu Stadium supervisor Paul Machilika said the gate collection  did not match the turnout.

“All the stands were filled and the charges were higher compared to other games. The gate collectors are not helping matters. This is not on and it will be ideal if we have registered firms to do this job,” he said.

In a separate interview, Moyale Barracks general secretary Mike Chimwala also said the amount realised was not a reflection of the turnout.

“We expected not less than K12 million, but what we got is an insult. This means that the fraud activities within our gate management system is still at play,” he said.

On his part, Bullets chief administration officer Albert Chigoga said the crowd at Mzuzu Stadium was not different from one that turned out for  their game against Dedza Dynamos at Balaka Stadium where they collected K12 million.

“And at some point, one of the gates was broken and people entered for free. The infrastructure is also the biggest problem that contributed for us to collect that amount. Otherwise, we are not impressed with the package realised with the large turnout we had in Mzuzu,” he said.

Super League of Malawi Sulom general secretary Williams Banda declined to comment, saying they are yet to receive a report on the match.

But Mzuzu-based soccer analyst Julius Mithi said the gate management system must be changed immediately otherwise clubs will keep on crying.

“Gate management system must be modernised, otherwise, clubs will keep on crying. And many people entered the stadium at about 15 minutes to the end of the match as they could not afford paying K2000,” he said.

The development comes two weeks after police arrested cashiers at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre for allegedly stuffing K430 000 in their underwear during the match between Mighty Wanderers and Sable Farming.

They have since been charged and were released on bail.