Times Of Swaziland: FOOTBALL BLACKOUT AT EBIS COMES TO AN ‘END’

FOOTBALL BLACKOUT AT EBIS COMES TO AN ‘END’
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Machawe Fakudze on 14/09/2021 08:47:00


MBABANE – The football blackout on national radio will soon be a thing of the
past.
Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) Marketing Committee member Sibusiso
‘Scorpion’ Nxumalo said they had sent a proposal to Eswatini Broadcasting
and Information Services (EBIS) authority over the return of live coverage on
football games by the national radio station. “We did everything concerning
the issue of broadcasting football games as we forwarded a proposal to the
station authority over the live coverage of the games. We are still waiting for
their response on the matter,’’ Nxumalo was responding to EBIS’ Nathi
‘Mdockies’ Hlophe during yesterday’s morning Sports Show.
The national radio station and Eswatini Television station were banned from
covering football games live at the beginning of the past 2020/2021 MTN Premier
League season by the PLE. It was a drive to make the stations pay the PLE
broadcasting rights which in turn would have helped the teams financially during
this COVID-19 era, which has forced the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) and
the PLE to ban football supporters and fans from going to stadiums. “We hope
to get the response before the new season starts as we had done everything on
that issue,’’ Nxumalo said.
The Madlangempisi Member of Parliament (MP) said COVID-19 had disturbed their
plans as the PLE marketing committee in as far as implementing income generating
strategies for the organisation and teams at large. “We will also try to use
other media platforms such as live-streaming as we are planning a programme that
will help the teams to be financially sustainable,’’ he said. Nxumalo
further said that they would soon launch a vaccination campaign for supporters
which would help in having more vaccinated supporters. “Once we have a huge
number of vaccinated supporters, maybe government will consider allowing them
back into stadiums. This in turn will help the teams financially,’’ he said.
The legislator said technology had changed the way things are done and their
wish was to turn football fans to supporters.