By In what can be termed a milestone for football lovers, the sole metro of the Free State province, Mangaung Metro signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the local football club Marumo Gallants FC on Monday, 18 November 2024.
The City, in welcoming Marumo Gallants as the local soccer club gifted them with a zero rated use of the municipal facilities. The MoU states that Marumo Gallants will be responsible in maintaining Dr Rantlai Petrus Molemela Stadium in Bloemfontein as its home ground, and Toyota Stadium as an alternative for three years.
The City citing that since the advent of Marumo Gallants in Mangaung; the club has attracted a huge number of tourists through its games and small businesses benefited from the economic spin-offs from home games in the City.
“One of the benefits of this partnership is that they are assisting with the maintenance of the facilities, they have brought in people who are going to maintain the fields, to ensure that it meets the PSL standards,” said the Head for Corporate Services Mr Mokete Duma.
Duma said, amongst the structural issues at the stadium that need to be attended to includes the score board, which Marumo Gallants will be responsible for. Furthermore, the MoU will from part of their report in Council.
Since the exit of Bloemfontein Celtics, football fans were left without any entertainment, however with the arrival of Marumo Gallants, the City came alive and football lovers filled the stadiums to capacity.
“You would see how they were married to the idea of Bloemfontein Celtics. I would like to thank you for the way you handled the issue of supporters; you engaged the supporters and the City,” said the City Manager Mr Sello More.
Seeing the enormous support from the fans, the PLS, Rugby SA and SAFA decided to host matches in Bloemfontein, and all games will filled to capacity as fans from all walks of life descended in large numbers to show their support. This turned Mangaung into a sports mecca of the country.
“It is such a great honour for the City to host the Carling Black Label Knockout Cup final on Saturday, we haven’t hasted a final match in more than 10 years. The people of Mangaung will benefit with the presence of Marumo Gallants,” said More.
The club says it is pleased with the partnership with the Metro as it will bring about development in the City through football.
