Author: BENJAMIN BEN
AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE management of the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam has resolved the puzzle made by the league body that all matches set at the venue should be shifted to Uhuru Stadium.
The Tanzania Premier League Board (TPLB) recently issued a statement declaring that all 2020/21 Mainland Premier League games which were fixed at the 60,000 capacity venue will now be played at Uhuru Stadium until when the venue re-opens.
This created a suspense among many people as to what will happen to the traditional derby match scheduled on November 7th this year at the biggest stadium in the country as per announcement of the TPLB.
However, reacting to this was the stadium’s manager Godwin Nsajigwa, who underlined that the highly anticipated match on November 7th will unfold at the venue since by then, it will be functional.
“It should be known that the Ministry for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports wrote the TPLB that they should relocate all the matches meant at the venue to Uhuru Stadium from October 15th to November 5th. “As such, the upcoming Dar es Salaam derby game will happen at the arena as planned before hence people should not be troubled about where the derby clash will be staged,” Nsajigwa said.
He then refuted claims that the closure of the venue was to give room for the renovation of the natural pitch which seemed to be partially damaged when the national team Taifa Stars hosted Burundi in a FIFA international friendly match.
“The status of the pitch now is perfect even though it had some problems when Taifa Stars welcomed Burundi, and that was a normal problem but now, everything has been put in place,” said he.
Among the Premier League games which have been disrupted by the closure of the stadium was the Yanga versus Polisi Tanzania match which was played at Uhuru Stadium.
Also, tomorrow’s game between defending champions Simba and Ruvu Shooting will be staged at Uhuru Stadium other than Benjamin Mkapa Stadium as earlier stated in the fixture.
Meanwhile, sport stakeholders have called on the management at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium to avoid letting the audience step at the natural turf of the stadium during public events, so as to protect the available grass which takes long time to grow when affected.
