By Paul Nyathi|About forty members of the Walter Magaya PHD Ministries Church on Sunday sort healing prayers at the church on injuries incurred after being thoroughly beaten by Highlanders Football Club thuggish soccer fans on Saturday.
A ZimEye.com source at the church said that the soccer loving members of the church, most of them women, were on Sunday morning spotted receiving prayers for their varied injuries from church elders before the arrival of prophet Magaya.
The Magaya owned Yadah Stars Football Club handful fans were on Saturday brutally attacked at the National Sports Stadium by Highlanders fans who had travelled with the team from Bulawayo.
The incident occured with about five minutes of play left in the match between the church side and the suddenly battling Bulawayo side.
The few Yadah fans who had been singing gospel praise songs and dancing throughout the match attracted the fury of the known violent Highlanders fans when the ball was kicked out of play into the terraces where the yard fans were.
Instead of throwing the ball back into the pitch for play to resume, the Yadah fans began throwing the ball between each other at the terraces.
In an instant the Highlanders fans some carrying knobcarries and a host of missiles and weapons descended on the helpless Yadah fans beating them thoroughly.
One Yadah fan escpaed death by a whisker after police officers inside the pitch pleaded with three Highlanders fans who were holding him high intending to through him about thirty metres down the terraces onto the concrete surface.
The Highlanders fans had already been infuriated by the church side whose players had been employing delaying tactics when their team was piling pressure to find a goal in a match which ended in a goalless draw.
The young ball boys set up around the pitch also added to the Highlanders fury when they hid the spare balls leaving only one ball available for play which took time to be brought back into play every time it went out of play.
Highlanders players ran around like headless chickens chasing after the ball every time it went out of play to resume play.
None of the Highlanders fans were arrested by the police who were easily out numbered by the Highlanders fans.
Comment could not immediately be obtained from the Premier Soccer League officials.
Highlanders fans have a huge track record of violent scenes at their team games.
Years back in the late nineties the team’s fans gave enough to football authorities and had to see the team play five morning games in an empty stadium as punishment.
A couple of years back the Bosso fans murdered a prominent Dynamos fan in one of their similar violence incidents.