Falkenburg tipped for ZRU presidency

The meeting is scheduled to start at 9am.
Having been in the office for three terms with mixed fortunes, the former Harare Sports Club chairman will hand over office to Harare’s Falkenburg, who is tipped to take over in a four-year term. The Northern Region has selected the former vice-president as their candidate for the presidency while Zimbabwe Under-20 chairman and former vice president, Aaron Jani, is expected to stand for vice-presidency. The Southern Region were by yesterday yet to make their nominations public.
Falkenburg served as the vice-president representing the Northern Region but this time he has expressed interest in taking over as the boss of the union.
Jani, who once served as a vice president as well, is set to bounce back.
But for Sibanda, the three terms he served as the head of the sport in Zimbabwe were somehow a mixture of challenges and successes after he managed to bring back the Sables on the international scene.
When he got into office in 2009 (after the Sevens World Cup) having taken over the bankrupt union from sevens manager Brice Hobson, Sibanda’s main challenge was getting funding for the whole Union and game time, especially the Sables.
However, Sibanda did not manage to bring in as much money as the Union might have expected and as he leaves office the Union’s books are in the red. This means that the incoming executive committee will also have a huge task of trying to get funding for the sport and making sure that the Union does not rely on donations but rather become self sufficient.
It would be unfair to dwell on what Sibanda failed to do as he achieved a number of other goals. Sibanda one of his top priorities was to make sure the Sables got “more game time” and he managed to do that.
The Sables also went on to win the Africa Cup Group 1B tournament that saw them gaining promotion to the World Cup qualifying Group 1A finishing as the highest climber of the year on the IRB 2010 World Rankings.
Sibanda successfully wooed Delta Beverages, through their Lion Lager brand, back into the game.
Funding and qualification for the 2015 World Cup will be the greatest challenge for the incoming executive committee.