Gems neglected again ahead of Netball World Cup

Veronica Gwaze

Sports Reporter

AFTER the Zimbabwe senior netball team’s qualification for the second consecutive appearance at the Netball World Cup, ordinarily the nation should have gone into overdrive, making sure that preparations for the global showcase were done in time.

However, it seems the team is down on the same old gruelling path that took them to the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England.

The quadrennial tournament is this year scheduled to take place in Cape Town, South Africa, between July 28 and August 6.

The Nedbank-sponsored Gems will join hosts South Africa, Uganda, Malawi and 12 other nations from across the continents in the battle for global supremacy.

Nedbank have led the way in sponsoring the Zimbabwe team. It was only last month that the financial institution came to bail-out the Gems with a US$50 000 sponsorship package that is meant to cater for kits, travel and insurance for the Netball World Cup.

Conversely, the Zimbabwe Netball Association are looking at a budget of US$234 000.

And with just two months left until the prestigious global outing, the nation is mum about the team, exactly the same way things unfolded in 2019.

At their maiden appearance at the 2019 Netball World Cup, the then Lloyd Makunde-led team managed an impressive eighth place finish.

Feted across the globe, the Gems literally had many people eating off the palm of their hands.

It is only then that the team became the talk of the town with individuals, artists and corporates scrambling to be associated with them.

Yet their preparations left a lot to be desired.

Former Gems skipper Perpetua Siyachitema reckons the preparations for the 2019 Netball World Cup were tough as the team had to operate with limited resources.

“The World Cup preparations were tough, we operated with little to nothing at all, camped in Mbare, sleeping in a classroom,” she said.

“Daily, we walked through Mbare to the training venue, touts made fun of us, it was a nightmare but we soldiered on because we had a dream.

“I feel that preparing for such a huge contest, we deserved to be treated better and sadly this has become the case again now.”

The team will next week regroup for their second and final camp at Prince Edward High School.

A team of 30 players, including the foreign brigade which includes captain Felisitus Kwangwa and Joice Takaidza, are expected for the final training camp.

Sadly, the rock star status of the team that put Zimbabwe on the global map in 2019 has vanished and very few people seem to recall about them.

Their major accomplishments would have attracted a lot of endorsements, media coverage, sponsorship deals and more.

Yet, for all their efforts in holding the nation spellbound, they still have to endure tough times.

The president of the Zimbabwe Netball Association, Leticia Chipandu, said while the Nedbank landmark sponsorship deal for the Gems ahead of this year’s Netball World Cup was encouraging, there has not been much response from the corporate world.

“It’s neither exciting nor encouraging, let me be honest. We would want people to come in and assist on top of what Nedbank, our title sponsor, has put in,” she said.

“In return, we get to give them visibility by putting them on the playing kit as our sponsors for the World Cup. We needed them especially at this 11th hour.

“2019 was tough and going down the same road is not what we wanted. Remember it was almost the last minute as well…”

Some former Gems players questioned if this could be a case of apparent neglect of netball.

In fact, of all the talk about business and corporate governance during various sports-related symposiums, nothing much has been done on the ground to appease the Gems.

“Why have there not been attempts by business moguls to stand for the team on their road to Cape Town?” said Patience Chinhoyi.

“It is as if the 2019 Liverpool story never happened. Everyone wants to wait until these girls conquer the world again so that they can be associated with them, which is unfair.

“Where are the business moguls at this time?”

Resources permitting, international friendlies have been scheduled against Uganda, Malawi, Wales and England, as part of the preparations for the Cape Town Netball World Cup.