Hockey Association of Malawi (Ham) has fallen out with its long-time hosts, College of Medicine Sports Complex, resulting in an abrupt end to 2016 Indoor Hockey League.
The league was shelved a fortnight ago after the two parties failed to agree on the usage of the facility, thereby ending their fouryear relationship that saw the indoor game thriving.
Ham vice-general secretary, Grace Jana, on Thursday said they vacated the facility after failing to reach a compromise on preconditions, which the facility’s management introduced.
“There were some operational restrictions. It could have been challenging to have indoor games in a smooth and enjoyable manner,” said Jana, while being diplomatic on the actual reasons.
The association has since opted for Kamuzu Stadium as an alternative venue.
However, playing at the football arena would affect play, men’s league champions, Genetrix coach, Geoff Biya, complained.
“This has affected players. The playing surface at the Sports Complex was helping to improve performance. I thought the core business of the Complex is sports,” Biya said.
The association’s administration manager, Benjamin Chaura, said the Sports Complex gradually increased booking fees for its indoor facilities from K2,000 per in the first year to K30,000 per day this year.
Apart from that, Chaura said the Sports Complex released a memo stating new rules that the hockey federation thought were discouraging.
“They told us that the players should only occupy the hall and not other areas at the Complex. We were also told that we should not use the showers as change rooms or to freshen up after the games,” he said.
“We were told that we should just use the two toilets in the upper section as change rooms. On each day, we have 200 players, therefore, it was impossible and unhealthy to use the toilets for everything. Our supporters were also barred from occupying the terraces upstairs.”
Chaura added that they were given a condition that they should pay K100,000 daily if they wanted their previous privileges back.
“But the league is unsponsored, therefore, we could not afford to spend K3 million for a venue only in a season. Ironically, our sponsored outdoor league is pegged at K2.5 million per year. We decided to cancel the league,” he said.
The Sports Complex’s general manager, Augustine Banda Jnr, on Wednesday insisted that the hockey administrators did not understand that “the Complex belongs to the members, who pay for access.”
“So, what we ended up with was hockey players and spectators sitting on rails disturbing member work-outs and generally, there was very little control. Another issue was regarding the showers,” Banda explained.
“They were meant to use the change rooms to change in, but instead they begun to shower, which is obviously a cost so these issues causes problems. The league organisers were also demanding we sell Maheu for them, so it was impossible to reach an agreement.”
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