Story by Lawrence Trusida, Sports Editor
Scottland FC have set in motion the construction of a 15 000-seater stadium following a ground-breaking ceremony held at the Number One Grounds in Mabvuku this Wednesday.
This is a ground that shaped careers of many athletes – the legendary Warriors goalkeeper Brenna Msiska, the Mugeyi brothers William and Wilfred as well as Daniel Jakiel, a cricketer who is now turning out for Malawi.
Marshall Munetsi, the Mabvuku-born Warriors vice-captain would have loved to showcase his skills at the ground, but, unfortunately, it wasn’t to be as the community sports centre was not developed, but his dream will now be lived by many youths in Mabvuku and surrounding areas following the ground breaking ceremony held this Wednesday.
Scottland FC, owned by Mabvuku legislator Honourable Scott Sakupwanya, have secured a 30-year lease for Mabvuku Number One Grounds.
The club aims to build a 15 000-seater multi-purpose stadium, swimming pool, cricket pitch, construct new courts for basketball and tennis as well as build a club house for Scottland FC.
The project will be done in phases, with the first phase earmarked to be ready by April next year.
“It’s going to be a multi-purpose sports complex with swimming pools, stadiums and shops. If you know the history of Mabvuku, Number One Ground used to have some of these things and we are just revamping it into a modern facility. We are going to do things in phases and phase one will be the construction of a club house, main pitch as well as practice pitch for Scottland FC,” said Scottland FC chairperson, Tonderai Sakupwanya.
The club is working hand in glove with a local financial institution, Ecobank.
“We have come here to help Scottland to build a new state-of-the-art stadium in Mabvuku, which is their home. This means that youths get recreation abd those with businesses have somewhere to sell their products. We want to see the community benefit and our relationship with Scottland is for the long haul. We want to see the club grow and continue to shape futures,” said Ecobank senior executive, Mike Dengwane.
On site surveyors have already started their work to pave way for major construction works expected to commence in the near future.
Though void of turf, it is a signal of new things to come. The ground has been broken and Mabvuku is set to have a state of the art facility, good enough to host the Warriors.
