National Sports

Kamuzu Stadium pitch extended

 

The pitch at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre has been lengthened by four metres while its width has been reduced by two metres.

According to Dutch civil engineer Lex Vander Greft, who is installing a new artificial turf at the stadium, they decided to change the size of the pitch following instructions from Football Association of Malawi (FAM).

“The previous pitch was 100×68 metres but now it stands at 104×66 metres. This is what we have been advised by the Malawi FA and we have done just that,” he said.

Part of Kamuzu Stadium extended area

When asked about the reason behind the changes, FAM general secretary Alfred Gunda yesterday said they would like the pitch to get close to the standards preferred by the world soccer governing body Fifa. The pitch size preferred by Fifa is 105 by 68 metres.

“The previous pitch might have been marked at 100-metre length because the turf was smaller. Therefore, if there was a room to get the pitch much closer to the actual Fifa standard on the new turf, why not doing what is required of the average size?” he said.

Meanwhile, Vander Greft could not tell when the process will be finalised because the rubber, which is expected to be applied on the turf to improve surface grip, is yet to arrive from South Africa.

“After installing the turf, we apply layers of sand and rubber to improve the turf’s grip when a football match is in progress; we already have fine sand which came from Mangochi, but we will still wait for the rubber to complete the work,” he said.

ACT Global offered government the Xtreme Turf DX60 artificial turf at $499 520 (about K360 million) last year but installation was delayed due to rainy season.

Director of sports in the Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development Jameson Ndalama said they cannot tell when the stadium will be reopened for public use.

“As a ministry, we will send our team to the stadium tomorrow [today] to discuss the progress of the renovations with the contractors. It is from that point when the actual dates for the reopening will be determined,” he said. n

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