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Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
AFTER all, they had been waiting for so long!
The tremendously successful National Champions League hosted by Villa Spot in Mutare, was, not only a big lesson on skills of the game to them, but also an appetiser for clubs that were enjoying their off-season break.
Finally, the 2023 Mutare Pool League (MPL) rolled into life last weekend, with boys being separated from men as some clubs suffered heavy defeats.
As expected, star-studded Rozvie Empire, the MPL defending champions as well as the only team to get into the last 16 of the recent National Champions League contest, trounced house-birds, Mandisa13-0, while top performers, Beer Garden trampled Buffalo to a humiliating 22-2 defeat.
Golden Peacock grabbed a golden opportunity to snatch maximum points in the season opener with an impressive 17-7 triumph over Old Mutual, while Neighbourhood were the other big winners of the opening round of 2023 fixtures with a 20-4 victory over Chikanga.
New boys, Shoveland, who are already exuding signs of being a hard-to-beat outfit spurred by their off-season acquisition of talented players, got the better of Galaxy in a tie that ended on a 14-10 scoreline.
As the 2023 MPL season progresses, complains have been raised by some affiliates who believe that the eight frames for three rounds is time consuming.
The MPL changed its league match frames, dropping the doubles, and remaining with only eight individual frames played in three rounds, leaving a single league match at 24 individual frames or matches in total.
However, MPL officer in charge of development and publicity, Trinity Mukwapati, said the change was informed by the need to suit the professional standards being employed elsewhere.
“It is something that we are still deliberating on, but truth be said, this is something we should not change if we are to meet the standards elsewhere. We cannot be seen to be having our own standards when we are an affiliate of the national structure.
“This new norm of frames is a professional set-up. If we want to run our league professionally, this is the format we should use. After all, in a normal set-up where you have good players, the 24 frames do not take more than two hours.
“The challenge we have is that we have largely average and below average players in our clubs who want to be in a professional league. What we are saying is that if they want to be professional and be able to compete with the rest across the country and beyond, this is what we should be used to.
“Those who make these rules take time to study the trends. They removed doubles because of the need to save time. Doubles took time in players consulting each other.
“The only issue is that a lot people find it difficult because it is new. But at the end of the day it does not make professional sense to reduce the frames. I know as we move on, people will acclimatise,” he said This Easter weekend, MPL will have double headers to reduce pressure on the fixtures as the season progresses since the league now has 26 teams up from the 21 clubs.
MPL MatchDay One Results:
Rozvie Empire 13 – 0 Mandisa
VillaSpot 14 – 10 T One;
Neighbourhood 20– 4 Chikanga
Shoveland 14 – 10 Galaxy
Fantasy 14 – 10 Zhak Shirak; Acid 18 – 6
Mutare City; Buffaloes 2 – 22 Beer Garden
Windsor 11 – 13 Tagaz
Rozvie Empire 13 – 0 Mandisa
Giants 11 – 13 Beloepass
Mahoya 9 – 15 Boss Kedha
Snippers 10 – 14 Soul City.
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