Heavy rain thwarts ECCO -Highlanders duel

The two struggling sides were supposed to duel from 4:00 pm at the Francistown Stadium.  But with 15 minutes before kickoff, the heavens opened resulting in heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and strong winds. The downpour lasting 45 minutes, forcing the handful of fans, numbering not more than 60 to huddle under the main-stand shelter.  Like day-old broiler chicks avoiding the cold during a winter night, female and male soccer fans jammed together as the rain fell and heavy winds swept past. The match commissioner, Johannes Masole waited for 30 minutes after the rain and called off the match because the pitch was waterlogged.

“The pitch is not suitable for the match to go on,” Masole told journalists after inspecting the pitch for close to 10 minutes. He said it was risky to play in the flooded pitch.