adminNgoni Dapira
MUTARE’s topflight rugby league franchise, Mutare Sports Club kicked off the season on a high note after convincingly trembling over Southern City 40 -15 in Harare at the weekend. Last Saturday’s matches kicked off the Northern (Harare) Region Super League which had failed to take off on April 11 after several teams, MSC included shunned the launch.
On Saturday, MSC is expected to face Police Defenders at their favourite hunting ground, Mutare Sports Club in the second round of the league.
The Mutare match kicks off at 2.30pm.
The Harare topflight league consists of Harare Sports Club, Old Hararians, Old Georgians, MSC, Southern City and Police Defenders.
Hosts, Harare Sports Club got the better of bitter rivals, Old Hararians 35-20 in a gruesomely contested high profile match.
Meanwhile, the Southern (Bulawayo) Region Super league which comprises teams from Bulawayo, Midlands and Masvingo is set to kick-off on Saturday.
The Midlands-Matabeleland Rugby League received a massive sponsorship boost last week from Keats Enterprises, a company with business interests in Bulawayo and Zvishavane.
The 2015 15s national rugby league under the custodian of the Zimbabwe Rugby Union failed to kick-off on April 11 after teams shunned the launch due to outstanding issues on the fixture and registration fees.
The Shumbas were supposed to take on Old Hararians at the launch, but the match will be rescheduled.
The Noddy Kanyangarara-led league was suspended early this year in January by ZRU on the grounds that it had failed to complete league fixtures last year amid speculations of misappropriation of funds.
Due to lack of a core-sponsor it was decided that the 2015 NRL would be run separately as the Northern (Harare) and Southern (Bulawayo).
Each team in the topflight Harare League is expected to pay $1 167 as an affiliation fee to cover costs for the season.
MSC chairman, Moss Kapumha, said although they were not content about the one home fixture allotted, they would just play for the love of the game.
“We are not happy as we wanted at least three home matches, but we will just play for the continuity of the sport. We, however, hope to negotiate with willing teams to come over and not just us travelling to Harare,” said Kapumha.
In other topflight league matches in Harare on Saturday, OGS will take on OH in a potential thriller, while HSC will take on Southern City.
Online Reporter