Innocent Kurira
Sports Writer
HIGHLANDERS recorded their lowest attendance for a home match this season when they hosted Yadah at Barbourfields on Sunday, just a week after rioting broke out at the stadium.
Only 5 396 fans paid to watch Bosso win 2-0.
By their standards, it was a very low crowd even though other clubs in the league would have celebrated having such numbers at their games.
On average, between 7 000 to 8 000 fans have been watching Bosso at home this season.
The highest number of home fans to attend a Bosso home game was when they hosted Dynamos in the first round of fixtures in May.
The paying fans on the day were 13 173.
The Yadah game came at the back of a poor run of form for the Bulawayo giants.
They lost two consecutive games to Chicken Inn and FC Platinum before the abandoned Battle of Zimbabwe against Dynamos.
Chaos started when fans at the Soweto End threw missiles onto the pitch before invading the field of play.
The Glamour Boys, who had been hosting their home games in Bulawayo due to the unavailability of football venues in Harare, had doubled their lead through Frank Makarati’s header in the 33rd minute.
Keith Madera opened the scoring as early as in the fourth minute.
Some have attributed last Sunday’s poor attendance to that orgy of violence.
There was a heavy police presence for matches at Barbourfields this past weekend.
Highlanders communications officer, Nozibelo Maphosa, said the poor attendance can only be attributed to the team’s performance.
“Football is performance-based, when the team is not playing well, fans tend to shy away.
“We are confident that our fans will return in their numbers for the coming games.
“We remain the most followed club in the local league.
“We are hopeful the numbers will increase after we got back to winning ways against Yadah,” said Maphosa.