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Off the ball with Limukani Ncube
THERE is no doubt that all local authorities, like all institutions of any colour and size, are busy strategising everyday on how to make the ever elusive dollar.
This has been necessitated by the economic squeeze the country is facing, and this has forced local authorities to maximise on all revenue streams at their disposal.

The Bulawayo City Council owns the big stadia in the city, talk of Barbourfields Stadium, Luveve and White City Stadium, where Premier Soccer League is played and Division One football is played mostly at Luveve and White City Stadium.

So when it’s the football season, the council smiles all the way to the bank as they take a 20 percent share of gross gate takings from Barbourfields Stadium and in other Premier League matches. For lower divisions at Luveve and White City, the council charges a flat fee, which is far much less than what it rakes home when using the 20 percent scale.

However, the majority of clubs in the city are struggling financially as they remain with the least number of dollars from all stakeholders which benefit from the match day gate takings.

Apart from the city council, there is the police, private security and cashiers, who on any day benefit more from the match day from gate takings that the players who actually bring in fans to the stadium.

The tragedy of all this is that people who pay to enter the stadium are Bulawayo residents who are indirectly the owners of the stadium, as they pay rates which were used to build the facility and other recreational facilities dotted around the city. But they find themselves funding the same facility time and again, with the club they pay to watch not  benefiting as much as the council does.

I am not saying the council must give out the stadia for free, no. It is logical that it needs money for the servicing of the same facilities and paying workers and meeting other obligations as it is an income-generating project, but why should it kill the goose that lays the eggs?
Highlanders in particular, have raised concern and appealed to city fathers to cut down on the 20 percent share.

They have even appealed to the police to reduce their charges, as they gobble a lot of gate takings, but they have been unsuccessful because revenue streams for institutions are now limited, and the police will argue that a football match is a “private” function which should be paid for, unlike any other ordinary gathering, although they will dutifully come in with more numbers unpaid for when need arises.

Now the taxpayers’ money, which comes from residents in Bulawayo and other areas, is now being used to renovate these council facilities for the December Africa Region Five Games to be hosted by Bulawayo.

The government revealed that it had budgeted $46 million to be used to upgrade Barbourfields Stadium, Luveve and White City Stadium to meet the required standards.

There were also plans to build some hostels at the National University of Science and Technology, and all these facilities, after the Games, will be handed back to the institutions to continue running and reaping financial rewards.

So in my wildest dream I dreamt asking the Bulawayo mayor why residents should keep pumping money into recreational facilities which do not benefit their favourite sporting teams? I was just dreaming, remember.

Work has already started at White City Stadium for new venues for other ball games as well as athletics, toilets and changing rooms.

Luveve Stadium has also been closed as toilets and changing rooms and some facelift to the seating capacity is being done, as well at Barbourfields, where toilets, dressing rooms are being spruced up with additional seating capacity being worked on.

So why can’t Highlanders, Bantu Rovers, Chicken Inn, How Mine, New West City and other teams benefit from stadia that have been funded by ratepayers? Why can’t the city fathers be lenient and reduce their percentage share so that they also in a way sponsor the teams that employ thousands of young men and women and keep them away from the streets in these days when there is no industry to talk about?

Perhaps Hartsfield Rugby Ground could be the answer to the cash squeeze that clubs are facing, considering that they  pay a flat figure of between $600 and $1,500.

In addition, the owners of the facility also provide security personnel to assist in the gates.

Judging from Highlanders’ home matches attendances in recent months, with the Dynamos match aside, the figure charged by the Matabeleland Rugby Football Club might be far below the 20 percent that the Bulawayo City Council asks from the gross money that Bosso usually makes when they host matches at Barbourfields Stadium.

“I can say our move from Barbourfields Stadium to Hartsfield, is a big relief on the 20 percent deduction that is done by the city council.

For the use of Hartsfield, we negotiated to pay a flat $1,500,” confirmed Highlanders Chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede in an interview with our sister paper, B-Metro.

“We are happy that we did not relocate to outside town (after the closure of Barbourfields and Luveve for renovations) but Hartsfield is small ground with a lot of security problems. We might be forced to hire more policemen and our financial gains will also depend on the number of people who will come to the stadium,” said Gumede prior to his club’s game against Harare City.

Gumede, a veteran football administrator, is on record saying deductions from revenue generated on the turnstiles is gobbled by levies and charges, leaving the teams with no money to run the clubs.

The advantage of using Hartsfields for matches that would not attract a full house are in the open for everyone to see, and the disadvantages are also there for everyone to see, but like they say, challenges are there to be overcome and it is up to clubs to put mechanisms in place that will make them be able to control crowds at Hartsfields, and then move to Barbourfields where they are certain to play for the city council when they host big matches. We are told Hartsfield accommodates 5,000 fans, but that is a conservative figure, and on any given day, the likes of Chicken Inn, How Mine and Bantu Rovers do not attract 5,000 fans in their home matches, so why not go there and pay a flat fee of $600, like what one team recently paid. Food for thought.

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