adminBukhosi Mangena Sports Correspondent
GWERU Sports Club will on Saturday host the first instalment of the Bulawayo Rugby Cup tournament to mark the end of a disastrous rugby season during which the league failed to take off.
The tourney, which was introduced as penance for the failed Mid/Mat League by the new Matabeleland Rugby Football Board (MRFB) late last month, was scheduled to kick off in Masvingo last week, but was rescheduled after the province failed to assemble a team.
A total of eight teams are expected to grace the event with Bulawayo’s Old Miltonians, Matabeleland Busters, Western Panthers and Police Bulldogs joining teams from Gweru, Kwekwe, Kadoma and Airforce Gweru Select. Airforce Gweru Select replaces Masvingo in the tournament.
MRFB provincial development officer George Mukorera said fans must brace for a good day of rugby after a long absence.
“We’re definitely going to have the event this time around and all teams have so far confirmed their participation. We were supposed to have the first tournament in Masvingo last week, but failed at the last minute after they failed to raise a team on time,” Mukorera said.
However, Masvingo Rugby acting chairman Craig Greess blamed their woes on the Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU), accusing the mother body of only supporting initiatives in Bulawayo and Harare.
As a result, Greess said Masvingo had been hit by a player and management exodus.
Masvingo has no functional rugby board and are only in the final stages of drafting a constitution.
“We failed to take part in the tournament because we’ve no players at the moment. We’re embarking on a restructuring exercise as all the good players are committed elsewhere where they get money for their efforts,” said Greess.
“The ZRU has been concentrating on two cities and that has killed other cities because we cease to have proper structures, which compromises professionalism.
“We all know that there’s no money and our league is dysfunctional. We engaged a sponsor but they wanted a constitution and we couldn’t provide that because of our situation, but we’re looking into it.
“We wanted to approach ZRU to help us, but we pulled back after noticing that they were struggling with financial issues too,” he said.
The MRFB has been working around the clock to revive the sport in Bulawayo and return it to its glory days.
Online Reporter