FAM rebuffs Silver’s protest on Airtel Top 8 Venue

Silver, through their general secretary Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda, yesterday said by virtue of being hosts, they are supposed to play the match at their Silver Stadium backyard in Area 47.
Part of the protest letter addressed to FAM which The Nation has seen, reads: “Our humble plea, therefore, is that you should rescind the decision to have the semi-final match played at Civo Stadium and, instead, it should be played at Silver Stadium for commercial reasons and in the best interest of the competition.”
The Bankers further argued that their quarter –final matches [against Civil Sporting Club] were played at a neutral venue, the Bingu National Stadium.
“Further [to that], Blue Eagles played their first quarter-final match at their home ground.  All the home teams in the competition except Silver Strikers FC, played their matches at their preferred venues. We are of the considered view that it would not be in the best interest of the competition for only one club in the competition to be deprived of the right to play its matches at their home ground.

“It would also not be in the best interest of the competition for the semi-final match to be played at a neutral venue when there are no security concerns against the club’s home ground. As a matter of fact, there is commercial sense and efficacy for the match to be played at Silver Stadium,” the letter further reads.
“The decision to change the venue has serious effects on expected income we are expected to generate as a result of hosting the match which include a stadium share of the match-day ticket sales and match-day advertising. The decision [also] undermines efforts by clubs to have own stadiums and also the commercialisation drive that is being championed by FAM.,” the letter further reads.
But FAM acting competitions manager Casper Jangale yesterday said while they had taken note of Silver’s concerns, the venue will not be changed.
“There has only been one or two special cases when ‘discretion’ has been used and in the case of their [quarter-final] and it was for commercial purposes involving the sponsor and we have assured Silver through their GS that their concerns have been noted,” he said.