THOHOYANDOU – The pride of the Far North, Black Leopards Football Club, is up for grabs. The team's Managing Director, Mr David Thidiela, made this shocking announcement on Sunday. On Saturday, Leopards suffered a 1-2 defeat at the hands of Bush Bucks in a Castle Premiership League match at the Absa Stadium in East London.

According to Thidiela his decision to sell the team was influenced by the spirit of none-commitment among the players, poor match attendance and continuous negative media reports about the club. He stated that the slump in match attendance, especially in recent home matches, was a clear indication that people were no longer interested in the sport.

According to him, his reason to buy Black Leopards and channel a large amount of money towards its promotion to the elite league two years ago was to afford local soccer lovers the opportunity to watch high class soccer at home instead of travelling long distances to watch such games. "Now that the people seem not to be interested in the sport anymore, I better sell the team and concentrate on my other businesses," he said.

Black Leopards are now languishing at the bottom of the log with three points from seven matches. Leopards earned these three points in their home match against Hellenic whom they beat 2-0.

Thidiela told Mirror that he has received countless telephone calls, faxes and e-mails from concerned people who were persuading him to reverse the decision. He stressed the point that people who are persuading him not to sell the team, must show their commitment by attending the team's matches in their thousands instead of making noise from a safe distance.

He said that it is a known fact that his team does not have any sponsor and that he is running it from his pocket. According to him, the team's survival was wholly dependent on gate takings, and if people do not attend matches, then he is placed under great financial strain, as he has to run the team from his family budget.

Ironically, Thidiela revealed that they have hired the former Ria Stars coach, Mr Shepherd Murape, as the team's head coach. He said that Mr Augustine Makalakalane and Antonio de Vivo, who have been working as caretaker-coach and assistant will now be working as assistant coaches to Murape.

In the meantime, the Marketing Manager of the club, Mr Calvin Ralikhuvhana, has appealed to supporters of the club to attend a crucial meeting to be held at the Thohoyandou Stadium tomorrow (Saturday), starting at 10:00. The future of the team will, according to him, be the main issue on the agenda of the meeting.