The future of sports in Chuanga, in th municipality of Metangula, Lago District, Niassa Province, seems uncertain to many young people in the community, who are increasingly concerned about the state of neglect of the local 11-a-side football field.
What was meant to be a space for leisure and sports development has become a scene of frustration and discouragement due to the halting of construction and lack of action by the responsible authorities, leaving the project abandoned after its launch in 2023.
The construction of the football field in Chuanga began with great enthusiasm, promising a suitable place for sports practice. However, the work was interrupted, leaving the project unfinished and visibly deteriorating.
This situation is deeply concerning to the youth who use the field as their main space for recreation and training. “We were removed from the field by our community leader with the promise that the field would be improved, but as time passed we saw that the construction had stopped. Things started to fall apart, people began stealing iron rods something we had never seen here in Chuanga and we believe it was the construction workers who took them. Yet we continue to use the field with only half of it constructed,” lamented Jesus Marcos, main coach of the Chuanga team Real Madrid.
In light of the abandonment, the municipality expressed its intention to intervene, committing to building a fence wall around the field. The promised fencing aimed, in part, to protect the existing structure and signal that the project had not been completely forgotten. However, to the youth’s surprise and frustration, time passed and the announced fencing work was not carried out. Instead, only eucalyptus trees were planted around the field as a form of protection, but to this day, no wall has been built.
“The municipality volunteered to build the fence, but they haven’t fulfilled their promise. They planted eucalyptus trees around the field but don’t even come to water them. Are we expecting the community leader to water them every day? They told us to choose between the football field and a hospital, and we chose the hospital, but there’s still nothing,” vented Maurício Reginaldo, coach of team DIOR.
It’s worth noting that last year, the Metangula municipal council explained that the construction works for the football field were canceled due to the type of soil, which is muddy and accumulates water during the rainy season. As a result, the authorities decided to replace the football field project with another infrastructure project (a health center), which was reportedly the community’s own choice.
Chuanga’s youth say they are disheartened because their requests are constantly ignored, which is why they reached out to Moznorte to express their frustration. (Davide Muianga)
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