Chronicle Editor
Fungai Muderere, Senior Sports Reporter
JUNIOR football sponsor Otrick Siziba has bemoaned the demise of developmental structures and blames substance and drug abuse by the youngsters that are supposed to benefit from the programme.
Siziba, who through his company Otrick Spares, bankrolled Otrick FC Under-15, Under-17 and Under-20, and Division One sides in the high density suburb of Nkulumane, said there was urgent need to arrest the social transgression.
“I believe a number of people are longing for the times when Bulawayo junior football was alive. It’s a pity that a number of talented boys are roaming the streets, abusing drugs and indulging in binge drinking.
There is need for a collective effort to end the youngsters’ misdemeanours. We must come up with strategies and interventions that ensure most of our talented youngsters are not lost along the way,” said Siziba.
“The social and economic challenges bedevilling the country might be the major cause of that and it really pains me to note that it has become hard to trace players’ progression from junior to professional level. The young potential football professionals seem to be pre-occupied with something else which has in turn taken out the spark from Bulawayo junior football.”
His Otrick FC was once home to ex-Highlanders and Railstars winger Collin Nyambiya, former FC Platinum and Quelaton creative midfielder Mhleli Sibanda and ex-Chicken Inn attacking player Patrick Majuta, among others.
In 2011, their senior team missed a Premiership berth after playing second fiddle to the now defunct Quelaton.
Siziba, who is now Southern Refion Diviom One side Talen Vision’s patron, reckons that five to six years ago Bulawayo province had a well organised junior football league under the Zifa Bulawayo Province Junior League. It had over 40 clubs and more than 2 000 players between the ages of 12-18 years showcasing their talent between March and December every weekend.
“All that has now gone and is now history. Youngsters have thrown out discipline and determination,” Siziba said.
For a long time Bulawayo was the epicentre of junior football in Zimbabwe and produced some players that went on to make a mark on the international scene. — @FungaiMuderere
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