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Ricky Zililo

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BULAWAYO City Council will not be shedding water during days when there will be Premier League Soccer matches at Barbourfields Stadium and Luveve Stadium in a bid to avert a health crisis.

The two facilities have played host to 14 topflight matches this season.

Five games were played at the city’s ceremonial home of soccer Barbourfields, the traditional home of crowd pullers and giants Highlanders.

Some of the big games played at Barbourfields include Matchday 1 clash between Hwange and Dynamos, Bosso’s 2-1 win against FC Platinum, the Bulawayo derby between Highlanders and Chicken Inn.

The Highlanders-FC Platinum encounter had the biggest crowd at Barbourfields so far this season, after 11 046 fans paid to watch the bill.

Chicken Inn, who use Luveve for their home matches, moved their league game against Caps United to Barbourfields.

Bulawayo Chiefs and Hwange also shared Luveve before the latter moved back to the Colliery Stadium which was granted permission to host topflight matches. With big numbers of fans thronging the city stadiums for Premiership games, lack of water at the facilities posed a health danger to spectators, hence the local authority’s decision to shred water shedding when there are matches.

At Barbourfields Stadium, some fans were seen relieving themselves behind the terraces, as they avoided going into toilets where there was no water.

“The ongoing water shedding regime was sometimes affecting operations in stadia during soccer matches. Contingency measures such as use of bowsers had been employed before, however with overwhelming numbers at stadia, availability of running water is preferred. The most feasible solution to the crisis was for the area around stadia to be exempted from water shedding during match days. This would be done well in advance to ensure that water reached the targeted places within the stadia before resumption of matches,” reads minutes in the latest council report.

The development means that suburbs such as Barbourfields and Mzilikazi which are next to the city’s ceremonial football home, as well as New and Old Luveve will be exempted from water shedding on match days. — @ZililoR