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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
BLACK Rhinos Football Club said they are reverting to their original composition of the team whereby the bulk of the players were soldiers.
After losing at least 13 players at the end of the 2021/22 season, Black Rhinos secretary-general Edward Mutukwa said their restructuring exercise has seen them having core members of their squad being members of the armed forces.
Mutukwa said as a club they realised that they were losing players that they would have developed at the end of each season and to curb the trend they are reverting to the original composition of the team.
Chauya Chipembere, as Black Rhinos is fondly known, have lost their best players Farai Banda, Soccer Star of the Year finalist Eli Illunga, Gareth Madake, Peace Makaha, Dennis Dauda, Tawanda Chisi and Ashward Phiri among others.
“Every year we produce very good players, they come to Black Rhinos as average players but when we drill them because of our culture of hard work and discipline as soldiers, they become very good players that attract other teams.
“We’ve realised that this model doesn’t work and after we appointed Stanford ‘Stix’ Mutizwa (coach) we came up with a sustainable model that will have players staying with Black Rhinos for a very long time,” said Mutukwa.
He said the club had offloaded a number of players and remained with just seven players.
“This doesn’t mean we’re starting afresh, actually we’re integrating players that we had before. In 2020 we had a full squad and because of Covid-19, we had to send 17 players for military training. They completed training last March and are joining the team,” said Mutukwa.
The club has also recruited a number of footballers from fellow army sides Tongogara, Cranborne Bullets and Chapungu. Nelson Mwanasanga, Darren Mutiwekuzunza, Valentine Katsande, Nigel Gezani, Shelton Mhaka and Clive Rundofa are some of the faces that have joined the side from other uniformed forces backed clubs.
Mutukwa said he was confident that they will have a very strong team given that most of the players are below the age of 24.
“We’re going back to that model whereby about 80 percent of Black Rhinos players were soldiers.
“If you remember, many of the players in the team that had, the likes of Lazarus Muhoni, Menard Mupera and Melody Wafawanaka, were soldiers,” Mutukwa.
He said the advantage of having soldiers playing for the team is that they are already on the army payroll and as such it reduces the cost of running the club.
“What the club will be paying these soldiers are just winning bonuses and we want to introduce a bonus for a draw as part of measures to motivate players,” said Mutukwa. -@ZililoR
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