Midlands gets new pool chairman

Lovemore Zigara in Gweru
MSU chairman Ronald Mutengwa was elected the new Midlands Pool League (MPL) chairman in elections held in Gweru at the weekend.

Mutengwa takes over from Vandirai Hove, who is now chairman of the Midlands Pool Association (MPA), the governing body of pool associations in the province.

MPL is now a district league and the Mutengwa-led executive has been tasked with making constitutional amendments.

Mutengwa with 17 votes shrugged off the challenge of Peter Mandava, who polled four votes, and Tawanda Mugodzwa, who only managed two votes.

He will be deputised by former fixtures secretary Passmore Ndebvu, who polled 21 votes to McDonald Kunaka’s two, while Paul Mkwembi was voted secretary.

The treasurer’s post went to Florence Zishumba, who was uncontested, while Munashe Hove was also unchallenged for the post of fixtures secretary.

Mutengwa said he is going to come up with a strategic plan for the league to help spread the game and make it more appealing to people.

“As the new executive we are going to come up with a strategic plan, which is our vision to ensure that pool is administered professionally for us to attract corporate sponsorship. So far we have opened negotiations with potential sponsors and the response has been positive,” said Mutengwa.

“We also want to see to it that we do not only rely on sponsorship but we also want to have our own fundraising initiatives whereby we come up with Pool Centres in the league. This is after we realised that most pool tables are found in bars and this somewhat excludes schoolchildren and Christians, who do not want to be seen in such places. We will therefore place our pool tables in such areas for such groups to enjoy the game while realising revenue,” he said.

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