adminMehluli Sibanda Senior Sports Reporter
MATABELELAND Rugby Football Board (MRFB)acting chairman Sean Robinson faces arrest for illegally removing national memorabilia from Hartsfield Rugby Ground’s President Room to a private club without knowledge of both the MRFB and the Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU). A fuming ZRU president John Falkenberg told this publication from his Harare base yesterday afternoon that they were treating the matter as “theft” as Robinson and whoever was involved had no authority to take away the country’s rugby history from Hartsfield to a secret location.
“We don’t know where that stuff has been taken to so we are treating this as theft and we are reporting the matter to the police. This is the history of our country, I understand all the jerseys and ties are gone. Sean Robinson and Brett Holloway (MRFB past president) are behind all this. They might have taken all that stuff out of the country,’’ said Falkenberg, apparently expressing his anger and disgust on the matter.
ZRU vice-president Nyararai Sibanda was at Hartsfield yesterday afternoon and had been instructed to report the matter to the police by Falkenberg but could not do so as he could not access the President’s Room to ascertain the magnitude of the “theft’’ as the keys to the room are said to be with Robinson.
It is understood that the memorabilia collected from the colonial era and even in independent Zimbabwe has been moved to Bulawayo Club located on 8th Avenue and Fort Street, allegedly seen as one of the last bastion of racism in this country.
Sibanda said during a MRFB meeting last Monday he asked Robinson about the stuff which he (Robinson) wanted to move away from Hartsfield but had no idea that the memorabilia had already been taken away.
“We are disgusted with this whole thing, we will seek advice from the law enforcement agents because to us this is theft, the memorabilia has been taken away without our authority,’’ said Sibanda.
Robinson, acting chairman since the resignation of Tapiwa Mangezi at the end of last year, has been accused of causing chaos in local rugby because of alleged inept leadership qualities. He has also been accused of engaging a manager for Hartsfield Chris Skinner without the knowledge of the other MRFB members despite the fact that the provincial association has to pay Skinner.
When contacted a defiant Robinson said the memorabilia was taken away by the people who put it together, the MRFB life members.
“The memorabilia has been taken away by people who assembled it: the life members. It is currently being catalogued by lawyer Bruce Longhurst and a register of each item made and a Trust formed to protect it for all rugby fans for future generations. The President’s Room is being refurbished and new memorabilia which has been donated over the last five years will be displayed. We hope to have a grand opening of the President’s Room with the new look closer to the World Cup when we will be running it as MRFB. We have minutes for weeks where all present board members are in the loop,’’ said Robinson.
“The old gear will be kept together, with better security than Hartsfield until it can be displayed again for all rugby enthusiasts. The intention is to temporarily host it at Bulawayo Club when the venue is suitably renovated and display cabinets secured. The collection does not belong to anyone, it is merely being held together by the trust to protect it for generations to come,’’ added Robinson.
Despite Robinson’s explanation, former provincial chairman Mangezi said the acting chairperson had no authority to remove any of those souvenirs since they jointly belonged to the ZRU and the MRFB.
Sibanda also questioned the role of the Trust that Robinson claimed was in possession of the memorabilia saying their intentions were not clear.
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