Hock Enterprise incur ‘huge loses’ from Intercity Bonanza: Nomads turned down invitation

Lilongwe based firm Hock Enterprise, which bankrolled the K3.5 million Intercity Charity Shield says it will not be able to fulfil its wish of assisting Mua School for the Blind, having incurred huge losses during the recent two-day soccer bonanza held at Civo Stadium in Lilongwe.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for the welding and fabrication firm Frank Katundulu, speaking in an exclusive interview with Nyasa Times on Wednesday, August, 12, 2015 described the revenue from the four-team soccer fiesta as ‘Extremely pathetic.’

“It was extremely pathetic. I came out without a single penny and there is nothing that I can give to anybody. All the money that was realised from the gates went towards security, stadium hiring, cashiers and supervisors’ fees, first aid, allowances for players and officials and other services.

“The total money that I invested was over K8 million but we got less than K6 million from the gates. You can find out more from Mr Japhet Majekete of Fellowship Association of Malawi (Fama), which was manning the gates alongside my men,” said Katundulu.

According to Katundulu, who also chaired the organising committee, about K4 million was realised from the gates on the first day with a meagre K1.5 million fetched from the final match involving Civo United and Blue Eagles, which was curtain-raised by a third-place play-off involving Silver Strikers and Big Bullets.

Katundulu felt the absence of Mighty Be Forward Wanderers and subsequent elimination of Big Bullets in the preliminary stage affected the patronage.

“If Bullets had made it to the final, there could have been a huge turn-out on Sunday. Similarly, If Wanderers had honoured our invitation, the patronage could have improved because at least one of the two Blantyre giants could have made it to the final,” he said.

Wanderers were invited to take part in the tournament alongside their rivals Bullets but despite the team’s technical expressing willingness to travel to Lilongwe, the executive felt the bonanza could have negatively affected the Nomads’ preparations for the Carlsberg Cup quarterfinal match against Moyale Barracks.

The Nomads instead played a friendly match against FISD Wizzards at Kamuzu Stadium which they lost 2-1. Civo United won the Intercity Bonanza after defeating Blue Eagles 13-12 through post-match penalties following a one-all draw in regulation time.

Bullets finished third after edging Silver 1-0 in the third-place play-off. The winners got a trophy and K2 million with the rest sharing K750,000, K500,000 and K250,000 in that order.