Nomads ordered to play in empty Balaka stadium
Mighty Wanderers have been handed another heavy punishment and will play their next TNM Super League fixture against Zomba United in an empty Balaka Stadium this Saturday.
This is part of their punishment for causing the abandonment of their game against Red Lions and causing violence last weekend.
“Apart from the K500,000 fine and have their 18 home games shifted to other stadiums which will be determined by the Super League of Malawi (Sulom),the Nomads will play in an empty stadium this weekend,” reads part of the ruling by Sulom’s disciplinary committee.
Wanderers will have to pay the K500, 000 fines before Saturday and according to officials at Lali Lubani, they are working around the clock to pay the fine.
With no corporate sponsors on board, Nomads officials will be forced to dig deep in their pockets to raise the money needed to pay the fine and run the club.
“Since we do not have a sponsor at the moment, it is hard but we will definitely pay the fine before the weekend because we don’t want to donate points just like that through failure to pay,” said one of the officials.
He adds that playing in an empty stadium will affect them greatly because they also rely on gate collection to meet some expenses.
According to the Sulom’s ruling, the Nomads were also ordered to make a public apology through the electronic media and issue a press release for the damage caused which they are yet to do.
But the club’s top officials, who attended the hearing on Monday, accepted the verdict saying their supporters were in the wrong and pleaded with Sulom to be lenient on the Nomads and consider the welfare of the players who rely on football to make ends meet.
Nomads fans threw stones and objects on the pitch protesting alleged poor officiating in their match against Red Lions. They also damaged property outside the stadium.
