The Sunday News
HIGHLANDERS Football Club played their last Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match at Barbourfields this year yesterday as the venue is scheduled to be closed for renovations in preparation for the Africa Union Sports Council Region Five Under-20 Youth Games scheduled for Bulawayo in December.
The games will run from 4 to 14 December in the city and Barbourfields has been earmarked as one of the key venues hence the stadium has been undergoing improvements.
The facility has to be ready by the end of next month when the Local Organising Committee hands over the venues to the Regional Organising Committee.
PSL chief executive officer who is also the LOC director of marketing Kennedy Ndebele confirmed the closure of the stadium.
Ndebele announced a fortnight ago that Bulawayo based PSL teams are set to move to rugby stadium, Hartsfield, when the city’s two football stadia are closed for renovations.
Luveve and White City are also set to be closed but at a later date.
Bosso played Dynamos yesterday and their next fixture against Triangle is also at home.
There had been fears the city’s four PSL teams Highlanders, How Mine, Chicken Inn and Bantu Rovers would play their home matches in other towns for the duration of the closure of Luveve and Barbourfields.
Ndebele said they are in negotiations with the Matabeleland Rugby Union, who own Hartsfield, and are looking at making the necessary changes at the stadium to ensure it meets PSL standards.
Highlanders use Barbourfields as their home ground while the other three clubs play at Luveve Stadium for their home games.
Some of the clubs had already come up with plans to move to other stadia outside the city with Highlanders opting for Mandava Stadium in Zvishavane while Chicken Inn had announced they were going to be playing at the Colliery Stadium in Hwange.
