Lilongwe derby rakes in K7m
The latest episode of the Lilongwe derby, which featured rivals Civil Sporting Club and Silver Strikers, grossed about K7.1 million.
The Civil Servants hosted the Bankers at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Saturday in an Airtel Top 8 quarter-final first leg tie which Silver won 1-0.
From the gross, the two teams got about K1.1 million each.
However, the gross was a far cry from the recent TNM Super League Blantyre derby between Be Forward Wanderers and Nyasa Big Bullets which raked in K40 million at the same venue.
Civil, who were the home team, said the turnout did not meet their expectation.
Said the Civil Servants’ general secretary Ronald Chiwaula: “Being a big match, we expected a huge crowd so that the gross could be in excess of K20 million.
“But I think the match wasn’t well marketed. The other contributing factor [to the low-turnout] could have been the conflicting reports on whether the match was on. Nevertheless, we expect an improved turnout in the second leg.”
His Silver counterpart Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda said: “The gross did not reflect the turnout, so we are not happy.”
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) commercial and marketing director Limbani Matola said the turnout was not big because Civil do not have a huge fan base.
“I recall the recent Namisa fundraising match between Silver and Nyasa Big Bullets grossed K9 million and [therefore] the K7 million is, in all aspects, very fair,” he said.
