MATERO STADIUM ABANDONED
Written by Millennium on April 5, 2019
MUKWIMA CHILALA writes @SunZambian
FOOTBALL Association of Zambia (FAZ) Division II side, Lusaka Tigers FC have moved all their home games from their home ground Matero Stadium to Independence Stadium because of the poor state it is in.
Club Chairman, Colonel Teddy Njobvu said the dilapidated state of stadium had forced the team to move to Independence Stadium for fear that players might injure themselves if they continued to use the facility in its present form.
Njovu told Sun Sports in an interview that the team had been using the council-owned stadium all along but last week decided to shift to the Independence Stadium for sake of the safety of its players.
He said the team would still continue using the Matero pitch for training and only shift base for the home games.
“We train from here but due to the state of the pitch, we had a lot of injuries, so we decided to play some games at Independence Stadium just for the safety of our players,’’ he said.
He said the stadium was still under the Lusaka City Council though the club was uncertain whether the lease for the facility, to an unnamed individual had elapsed.
Njobvu said that the club had approached some companies for assistance to renovate the stadium but was waiting for the council to give them a go ahead.
“This stadium is still under the council, if you are aware there was some lease that was given out some time back, I’m not sure if the lease still stands, but what we did is that we approached some companies to help us renovate the stadium,” he said.
“But since we don’t have title or lease to the stadium, some companies were a bit hesitant to come on board but we have written to the Lusaka City Council to lease the stadium to us so that we can source for some sponsors to help renovate the facility,” he said.
The Lusaka Tigers chairman said that, just like other premiere league teams, the club still commanded huge support in Lusaka from which it also drew some of the sponsorship.
