SIMBA said the ongoing blood donation exercise is meant to solve acute shortage of the lifesaving substance in different hospitals across the country.
on Saturday, hundreds of Simba members and fans flocked at Karume and Chamazi in Dar es Salaam to donate blood being among the activities lined in the ongoing Simba Week commemorations.
Speaking after donating his blood, the club’s Media and Communication Manager Ahmed Ally said they saw it necessary to conduct the exercise bearing that blood is sold nowhere.
“As you know, there is no place you can go to get blood other than relying on somebody to donate his or hers and upon seeing the importance of this initiative, we are here making it happen,” he said.
He added that the exercise was not only being done in the city but also in all regions where Simba members and fans mobilised themselves to be part of the problem solving.
According to him, they were meant to collect 500 litres of blood to be allocated to the relevant bodies ready to be distributed in various hospitals where blood is needed.
In another development, Ally assured Simba fraternity that the climax of ‘Simba Week’ on August 6th will be staged at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium amid speculations that they may shift it to another venue to pave way for renovation exercises.
Recently, the government sealed a contract with the Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG) worth 31bn/- to facelift the current biggest stadium in the country which raised eyebrows to some people about the occurrence of Simba Day.
“Let me assure our fans that the much awaited Simba Day will be staged at Benjamin Mkapa as planned… there is no other venue that can accommodate such a big sporting event in the country,” he said.
Among other things, the day is used to parade the club’s full squad and technical bench members including series of other activities to soften the day.
Already, the Msimbazi Street Reds have declared that a friendly match with Power Dynamos of Zambia during the climax of this year’s Simba Week.
Meanwhile, Simba continue with their pre-season drills in Turkiye where they are busy creating a competitive team capable to battle for domestic and international championships.
Under the tutelage of Brazilian coach Roberto Oliveira, the Msimbazi Street Reds will have a tight international schedule next season as they expect to feature in the CAF Champions League and African Football League respectively.