Home | Sports | IT’S GAME ON TOMORROW BUT LEOPARD FANS VOICE: SECURITY CONCERNS

IT’S GAME ON TOMORROW BUT LEOPARD FANS VOICE: SECURITY CONCERNS

15/11/2022 06:53:00 Sports Reporter

Font size:

MBABANE – Despite security concerns from some Royal Leopard fans, their pending fixture against Nsingizini Hotspurs will go on as planned tomorrow.

That is according to the amended fixture, which was issued by the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) yesterday. The game between Royal Leopard and Nsingizini Hotspurs is billed for tomorrow at King Sobhuza II Memorial Stadium and kick-off time is 2pm. Leopard fans in one of their social media platforms have raised security concerns, highlighting that they expected the game to be postponed. The concerns came after fellow security forces side Young Buffaloes was attacked by unknown gunmen this past Saturday on their way back from an MTN Premier League game in Nhlangano. “The PLE should postpone this game maybe until the weekend because I sense a skirmish after the game,” said one fan.

Lives

Another fan said lives mattered than football. “The PLE should postpone this game; we are not safe here, after what happened to Young Buffaloes, anything can happen to our team. We rather be safe than to be sorry,” said another fan.Following the safety concerns, Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer Inspector Nosipho Mnguni said they were aware on the attack on Young Buffaloes.

“We are aware of these security concerns but protocol denotes that we must not reveal what we will do to ensure safety,” said Mnguni. Asked about the Buffaloes incident which happened on Saturday, when unknown gunmen opened fire on a bus in which the army side players were travelling in, she said they were aware of the incident and no one has been arrested so far in relation to the shooting. Royal Leopard Manager Richard ‘Danka’ Fakudze said they had received the fixture and were aware that the match was rescheduled to an hour earlier.

“This works to our advantage, we will finish in time and leave while it is not dark to our respective places,” he said. Asked about their preparedness ahead of the game.“We have noted that all teams have upped their performance, which is good for the league. It is not only Nsingizini that have proved that they are a hard nut to crack but all the teams have showed they are unbeatable,” said Fakudze.

Meanwhile, Nsingizini Hotspurs Public Relations Officer (PRO) Mncedisi Bhembe said they were aware of the fixture change. “We have seen the amended fixture. We have been hard at training preparing for this game. It will not be an easy game following our good game against Young Buffaloes,” said Bhembe. He said they had a full squad ahead of the game. Leopard are playing catch-up following their engagement in CAF competitions.

They were booted out in the CAF Champions League after they lost to Coton Sport of Cameroon. They were then relegated to the CAF Confederation Cup where they played AS Real Bamako. They lost on 4-2 aggregate score. Had they won against Bamako of Mali, they would have qualified to the group stages where they were entitled to E4.9 million.