Mzuni protests Civo fixture
Mzuzu University (Mzuni) FC has written Super League of Malawi (Sulom) protesting their TNM Super League fixture against Civo United scheduled for Friday at Civo Stadium in Lilongwe.
Initially, Mzuni was supposed to host Kamuzu Barracks on Sunday, but following the revision of the fixture by Sulom, Mzuni is scheduled to travel to face Civo and Blue Eagles.
Mzuni claim that the revised fixture will affect not only their preparations but also the majority of their players who are students.
“We acknowledge receipt of week 20 fixture you e-mailed [us]. We have noted the changes in the original fixture where we were scheduled to have a home game against Kamuzu Barracks on October 11. We have also noted that we now have to face Civo and Blue Eagles in Lilongwe on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
“We would like to request to have our games shifted to Saturday and Sunday. As you are aware, several of our key players are students at our institution. Playing on Friday practically means leaving Mzuzu on Wednesday, resting on Thursday and playing on Friday. Much as this may be convenient to you, to us it means some students will have to miss classes for three days. Please consider shifting the games to the suggested dates,” reads part of the letter in our possession signed by Mzuni chairperson Albert Mtungambera Harawa.
Sulom general secretary Williams Banda confirmed receiving the letter from Mzuni, but was quick to defend the fixture changes, saying “it was due to other national issues that demand urgent address”.
“We have received the letter and we are discussing with fixtures committee. We have already approached their opponents Civo and Blue Eagles to get their point of view. However, we advise Mzuni to note that issues of the league cannot be aligned to the university programmes. We factored other issues such as Standard Bank Knockout Cup and our national team engagements to settle for this current change on the fixture,” said Banda.
When contacted for comment, Civo general secretary Rashid Mtelera said they have no problem playing on either Friday or Saturday.
“But we cannot accept to play on Sunday because we have a cup game against Big Bullets on Thursday next week in Blantyre. We want to utilise Sunday as our resting day before we depart for Blantyre the following day,” said Mtelera.
Blue Eagles team manager Gabriel Chirwa said they will not accept further changes.
“We are preparing for Saturday at Nankhaka as indicated on the current fixture. We cannot afford further changes now. If Mzuni want a change, that should not involve us. Our plan is that having played our game against Mzuni on Saturday, we should
