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Lovemore Dube Senior Sports Editor
TREVOR Carelse-Juul who spent his youth at a place known as Fambeki between Nkulumane, Pelandaba and Pumula has set his eyes on turning Iminyela Hall and Ground including White City to a viable sporting facility.He said this would be in honour of his late friend Majuta Mpofu who died last year.
Juul, who is gunning for the Zifa presidency, made his intentions known last year soon after the former Bulawayo Wanderers and Highlanders legend’s death.
Mpofu is regarded as one of the best dribblers to play on local stadia and like many of his generation and others after him, they have not had anything done in their memory.
Juul pledged his commitment to Bulawayo and its sporting youths on Tuesday afternoon on the sidelines of his campaign in Bulawayo.
“I grew up playing with the likes of Majuta Mpofu at Iminyela. I have fond memories of the times when there was so much of sport in the clubs like Iminyela where youths took part in a number of sporting disciplines.
“I am talking about vibrant youth programmes that existed in the past that need to be resuscitated. Iminyela and White City should be turned into a sporting hub that produces stars for national teams in a number of disciplines,” said Juul.
He said there was a lot of activity at Iminyela Hall which included boxing, soccer, table tennis and soccer.
“There are so many stars out there waiting to be discovered. We want to create a platform for them to reach their potential by improving facilities,” said the league and cup double winning coach with Dynamos in 1983.
Juul said he would engage the Bulawayo City Council regarding his planned development initiatives. He said the facilities needed urgent attention and the only way was to get requisite documents to seek funding from private players.
“The facilities belong to the Bulawayo City Council. We will engage them and see what sort of an arrangement we can get so that we improve on the facilities,” said Juul.
He said it was important for football personalities both living and dead to be honoured.
“Football is about footballers. We need to take it to them and the fans so that we can get stadia full once more. I am not saying we will sideline others with requisite skills and qualifications but I believe footballers have a role to play in inspiring young players because they know what has to be done in the game,” said the Zifa aspiring president on Tuesday in an interview.
He said he would set up welfare associations to look at the plight of former players, officials and coaches.
“What I have found disturbing is the fact that some of the players have died poor. It is a challenge to all of us to help those less fortunate and improve their lifestyles,” said Juul.
He said funding would not be a problem as they would come up with a proposal to attract sponsorships to sustain their plans.
Juul is an award winning architect with several big projects around Africa and abroad.
He was among the pioneers of the Zimbabwe Soccer Coaches Association in the 1980s and is credited with the Dream Team. He says now is the time to go for real achievements
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