Glory Gate Management, a firm that was engaged to provide services during the Blantyre derby between Nyasa Big Bullets and Be Forward Wanderers at Bingu National Stadium on Saturday, has distanced itself from the ‘missing’ of K4.2 million gate collections.
The firm says it is the one which uncovered the shortfall.
The gate management firm’s director Gerald Mussa said in an interview that they raised the alarm that the money and the tickets realised were not reconciling.
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) printed 30 000 covered stand tickets, 350 VIP tickets and 300 corporate box tickets, which were not sold out.
“The process was that a person would buy a ticket at a booth from a cashier [from a commercial bank]. They would then present the ticket at the entrance where upon verification, we [Glory gate Management] would let them in. Our job as gate managers was to simply redeem tickets sold for reconciliation purposes. We were not handling cash,” he said.
Mussa said in total they redeemed tickets worth K43 298 500.
“This amount was supposed to reconcile with the cash that was collected, but we were also surprised that the cash declared was K39 million, meaning there was a shortfall of K4 298 500.
“On our part, we did a perfect job, otherwise; this shortage could not have been discovered,” he said.
Mussa’s statement was corraborated by FAM general secretary (GS) Alfred Gunda who acknowledged receiving the report from Glory Gate Management.
The GS, however, said they were still waiting for reports from other stakeholders such as police and FDH Bank that was selling the tickets at the stadium.
From the revenue, ground owners and the teams received K8.3 million each from the revenue.
FAM got K6.7 million while K1.6 million went to Malawi National Council of Sports.
The gate revenue realised was way below what the 2017 Airtel Top 8 final between Silver Strikers and Wanderers grossed—K53.5 million.
In 2017, a Carlsberg Cup final between the two rivals at the same venue also grossed K54.5 million.
FAM used pre-selling of tickets in these matches, but on Saturday, the association opted to sell the tickets at the turnstile, after the two clubs refused.
“The reason we insist on pre-selling tickets is to avoid such incidents,” Gunda said.
The two teams were not supposed to take part in the gate management, but they allegedly invaded the process and in the ensuing chaos, some 23 booklets of 100 tickets were lost.
Bullets won the match 2-1 and will face Blue Eagles in the final at the same venue.
FDH Bank officials yesterday said they would respond after investigations. n
