OnSport Reporter
STRUGGLING Dynamos face off with perennial nemesis Highlanders at Rufaro Stadium on Sunday, a day after 2025 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League League arch-rival newbies MWOS and Scottland clash at Ngoni Stadium.
It would appear the league debutants, with MWOS leading the pack with 25 points from 13 games and Scottland FC on the third spot with 23 points from the same number of matches, have taken away all the glamour from the big guns’ match slated for Sunday.
For the first time in the history of the PSL, the league recently said they: “…would like to inform all stakeholders that the Castle Lager PSL Matchday 14 fixture between MWOS FC and Scottland FC, scheduled to take place on Saturday 31 May 2025 at Ngoni Stadium, Norton will only sell pre-printed advance tickets which have been allocated to both teams for their stakeholders.”
The league has urged fans to buy the ‘limited’ tickets early, no tickets will be sold at the venue and this experiment is for the Ngoni Stadium tie, with the big one, Dynamos hosting Highlanders on Sunday, using the normal system, fans paying at the turnstiles.
In 2019, the focus was on Highlanders and Dynamos with the PSL implementing an E-ticket trial-run system for a match pitting the two giants at Barbourfields Stadium.
Back then the PSL said: “The system is accessible anytime for scheduled matches, improves match-day planning and is designed to enhance the overall customer convenience and experience for our football matches. The PSL will this weekend implement a trial run E-Ticketing platform for the Matchday 12 fixture between Highlanders FC vs Dynamos FC Match to be played at Barbourfields Stadium on Sunday 16 June 2019. We will further roll out the system across all Harare & Bulawayo matches from Matchday 13.”
The PSL then floated a tender in 2023 for the electronic ticketing system but it never got to fruition.
Could trialing the advance ticket system at Ngoni Stadium in Norton on Saturday while Dynamos entertain Highlanders on Sunday, be an indication that the two giants’ game has lost its grit in the local league?
Close to 11 000 fans are reported to have watched Dynamos lose 1-0 to Scottland (home) earlier in the month at Rufaro with a lesser crowd watching the big Harare derby pitting DeMbare and Caps United which ended in 1-1 draw recently.
Approximately, the same number of fans are said to have pitched up for the Scottland vs Caps United match in March in which the former won 2-0.
When Scottland travelled to Bulawayo to play Highlanders, 13 000 fans are reported to have pitched up at Emagumeni in March.
A comparison of the fans figures for the Ngoni Stadium match and the Dynamos vs Highlanders game at Rufaro, will have much to tell, albeit Ngoni is said to have a carrying capacity of 5000, while Dynamos are reported to be losing its fan base to Scottland.
