SUNDOWNS RELOCATING TO MATSAPHA

MBABANE – Forget that they have a stadium of their own already that cost more or less E1 million but Manzini Sundowns intend relocating to Matsapha whereby a new stadium will be built.

It transpired in the club’s annual general meeting (AGM) last Saturday at the Manzini Club during the Chairman Mark Carmichael’s address presented by the team’s PRO Muzi Matsenjwa that they strongly considered linking up with a certain community that can adopt and relate with Sundowns.
“We have too many teams now in Manzini and this place is now small so as a club we want to take the team to the communities. We know there is Matsapha United now but that’s where we’re targeting to take Manzini Sundowns and even build our own village to have bigger stadium in terms of capacity than the Manzini Club soon,” Matsenjwa said.

He said while the chairman noted the club has had a good relationship with the Manzini Club as both parties benefited from the other, it was high time they had a permanent structure that will be complete with their own clubhouse and stadium.
“We know we have invested in this place but the community will also benefit if we take the club to it. The process to acquire land has already started as the chairman is keen to explore on this project, which could start happening somewhere next season,” he explained but asked not to mention the place for now.

However, sources revealed that Ludzeludze could be the new home for Sundowns. Matsenjwa said that Carmichael was targeting to have this project running in about five years just like it took him to construct the Manzini Club stadium.
He also noted that the stadium was a source of revenue for the team as they leased it out to various stakeholders including the PLS, FA, WFA, schools and social teams as well the Manzini Club itself where they also rent a clubhouse. He said even in Matsapha, they would lease the stadium to all these stakeholders and also accommodate their junior structures’ as well for training purposes.

Questioned on what will happen with the stadium at Manzini Club, Matsenjwa said for now it would be premature to say much but Carmichael will have everything penned out as he wants to achieve his re-location objective.
Carmichael was called yesterday on the latest and he highlighted it was all long term future plans they wanted to explore as a club with the main objective being to increase their fan base.
“It’s not Matsapha per se but we’re looking at various areas within the vicinity of Manzini region. We’re looking at a community that can adopt us and we adopt it, they benefit from football and we benefit from them,” he said.
He explained that it was all at a premature stage currently but it is an initiative they want to explore following the PLS Chairman Victor ‘Maradona’ Gamedze encouraging teams to identify with the people to increase their fan base and attract more people into football matches, especially home games.

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