Bullets, Nomads propose sites after Mutharika’s stadiums pledge

Malawi’s two football powerhouses, Nyasa Big Bullets and Be Forward Wanderers have said football needs to have proper infrastructures if the game is to develop in the country as they have reacted ti President Peter Mutharika’s directive that government should construct stadiums for them.

Mutharika made the directive on his whistle-stop tour of Blantyre on Sunday as he bids for a  second and mandatory final term in office during the May 21 elections.

Though being called the oldest clubs in the country, Bullets and  Wanderers have been relying Kamuzu Stadium as their home ground an entity owned by government.

But speaking at a joint news conference   at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre on Tuesday, the two Blantyre-based TNM Super League giants praised Mutharika for the pledge and said they have already identified land for their grounds.

Bullets chief executive officer, Fleetwood Haiya said they had the design and the stadium site  already because they were in the [process of doing the same within the next five years as part of their commercialisation drive.

He said Bullets identified Ngumbe area in Lunzu where they had plans to construct new 25 000 seater stadium and that the People’s Team will also construct the 10 000 seater  facility for their reserve team at Kamba in the commercial city.

Haiya also unveiled the design for their stadium.

“We would like to thank the President for considering us and we appreciate this ind gesture. Football is the most followed sport in Malawi, we the directive, he has reached the hearts of many Malawians considering that Bullets and Wanderers  have  over 10 million followers [combined],” he said.

“This is a blessing to us,we had plans to build ours but because of some procedures we had to wait,”Haiya said.

Wanderers General Secretary, Mike Butao said Mutharika’s directive is a big relief for the blues.

He said since 2017, the club has been organising fundraising events that raised K10 million  in both cash and pledges and they have been looking for possible partners for the project.

Butao said with President’s directive, Wanderers feel “relieved and humbled.”

He said Wanderers had identified land near  Chichiri Secondary School but said City Assembly  told them they do no own the land as part of it belongs to the school.

Another proposal is Kanjedza if given the nod by the Malawi Housing Corporation  (MHC)

“Government owned teams like Silver Strikers,Blue Eagles and Civil Sporting are enjoying the fruits of having their own stadiums and i think this is the right time for giants Blantyre teams to benefit,”he said.

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