Bulawayo rugby glory to return!

Bulawayo Metropolitan, once the breeding ground of Zimbabwe’s finest rugby players and the country’s rugby hub, has seen those glory days fade away.

In the past, Bulawayo was the country’s ceremonial home of rugby, boasting of having a say in the national game. However, the province took a slump in the past few years but that has not stopped the custodians of the game from trying their best efforts to restore the glory days.

The Bulawayo Metropolitan Rugby Football Board (BMRFB) seeks to bring back the glory days when the likes of Highlanders, Busters and Old Miltonians (OMs) hosted famous battles, producing the crème de la crème of players. They have ramped up efforts to ensure that the province reclaims its seat at the top.

Speaking after the conclusion of the highly competitive 2024 BMRFB Archer Clothing Rugby League at the home of rugby, Hartsfield Rugby Grounds, a fortnight ago, chairperson Carrington Busili said the competition at this year’s league was a reminder that the good old days are back.

In this year’s edition, history books were re-written with OMs clinching the title after defeating Matabeleland Warriors in a game that went into extra time and needed a golden point to separate the two giants.

At 80 minutes, scores were exactly level at 13-13 before the eventual champions, OMs went on to score a penalty in extra time that made it 16-13 to finally land their hands on the title after over a decade of missing out.
Busili added that he was pleased to see competitiveness throughout the campaign and that is evidence of a bright future.

“The league has shown that teams have grown. Building up from the 2023 league, teams have gotten a lot hungrier, teams have put in a lot of work. Each and every team that participated in this league has shown some level of growth, even the competition was at its, maybe, high time best in a very long time as evidenced with the final.

“Getting into this role as Bulawayo metropolitan chairperson, one of my key pillars was to bring back the competitiveness of rugby back into the province. You can tell from what you saw in this final, it had to go into a golden point. That shows the level of competition and quality in the finalists that were there. Even in the third and fourth play-off match, there was quality in that.

For us we can say we have started ticking the boxes, bringing back the competitiveness, you evidenced that,” said Busili.
For Busili, there is no stopping Bulawayo rugby from going up from now and that the province is still a powerhouse.

“Where we are going from now is to tell the country that Bulawayo is back. We are not ruled out, we are a powerhouse in the rugby sphere.

“The future is great, most of the guys who were competing are young guys. You can do a mental math in terms of the average age, it could be like 27 and when you look at it, those guys still have more years ahead. So in terms of the future of Bulawayo rugby, it is very bright.

“We have programmes lined up going forward, programmes that continue to have us grow, so we are on a growth trajectory. It’s all the way up from here,” he said.

A provincial team is scheduled to face Zimbabwe A at Hartsfield Rugby Grounds. The eagerly anticipated match is pencilled in for September 14 as the Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) and the BMRFB ramp up efforts to ensure that rugby returns to its traditional home.

A final 23-man squad that will do duty against Zimbabwe A is expected to be released in the next couple of days. – @brandon_malvin