War of words between Bamboutos fans and management of Mbouda Arena Stadium
By Stephen TADAHA
The management team of the Mbouda Arena Stadium through the stadium Coordinator Mr Agha, has debunked accusations of being at the origin of the poor performance of Bamboutos FC of Mbouda.
The Fans and sympathizers of the club are still to accept their team’s second home defeat of the season, to APEJES 0-1 last Sunday on match day 15 of the MTN Elite One championship. They are pointing accusing fingers at the management team of the Mbouda Arena stadium. These supporters say the team had been denied access to the stadium to carry out their training and more to that, that match day, the stadium was rented for an unofficial match that was played in the morning before their encounter against APEJES. They also blamed him for not permitting them to make black magic in preparation for their encounter. Furious about the result, many fans went as far as physically threatening some workers at the stadium.
The Coordinator of the stadium debunked such accusations saying, “the Mbouda Arena Stadium is a state property and does not belong to Bamboutos FC of Mbouda, I receive orders from my Boss, that is the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education ” declared Mr. Agha Nde Elias, stadium Coordinator.
“First of all as to what concerns access to the stadium, we did not deny them access, we simply reduced the number of training sessions from 3 times per week to once a week because of the state of the stadium. There is a water shortage thus making it difficult to get water to the stadium after applying fertilizers. Maintaining this pitch is not easy. You can’t train on this pitch every for it will degrade it” adds Mr Agha.
As to what concerns the second accusation, the coordinator says renting the stadium needs authorization from the Ministry of Sports and Physical.
“Some supporters who had it that the stadium was not supposed to be rented in the early hours of that Sunday, fail to know that there are days when FECAFOOT decides to organize two matches. What do they do when two matches are organized?” questioned Mr. Agha.
The stadium has workers who earn monthly salaries. These workers are mainly maintenance and security agents and are not paid by the ministry. Money raised from renting and other income-generating activities are redirected for that matter. More to that, it’s been almost 2 years now that subventions have not been paid for by the ministry of sports and Physical Education, CNA was told.
The management of stadia in Cameroon will in the nearest future be done by the National Sports Facility and Equipments board created following a Presidential decree on Wednesday, August 17, 2022. With the board’s arrival, many contracts between teams and stadia management teams will be reviewed.
It is true that a defeat is really not easy to digest but fair play is the main principle in sports. The Mbouda Arena Stadium just to recall is the home ground to Bamboutos FC of Mbouda and Yong Sports Academy of Bamenda for this ongoing football season.
The team is currently ranked first in group B with 24 points and has lost two games this season.
