Nash U-17 football tourney set for Hwange

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter

CHILISA Secondary School in Hwange’s Empumalanga suburb will host this year’s Matabeleland North National Association of Secondary School Heads (Nash) Under-17 football tournament next week.

The provincial finals will be held on May 31 and tomorrow all seven districts are expected to hold their district finals whose winners will head to Hwange.

“We are working flat out in preparation for the provincial finals and so far all those preps are progressing fairly well. Three grounds will be used for the finals, two at the school, with the other one being the main council stadium,” said Nash head-in-charge of football in the province Lunguza Ndlovu, who is also the host school’s headmaster.

According to Ndlovu, the host district will have three teams at the finals where a provincial select will also be assembled to contest the national finals next month in Bulawayo.

“What usually happens is that the host district provides two teams, with the defending champions qualifying automatically. Wankie Secondary are the defending champions and with Hwange playing host to the provincial finals, it means the district will have three teams, bringing to nine the number of teams that will take part in the provincial finals,” said Ndlovu.

The tournament is wholly funded by Nash after the previous sponsor reportedly pulled out, allegedly following a clash of business interests with Nash’s principal sponsors Coca-Cola.

“We have had sponsors once in a while, but at the moment we don’t have any sponsor for this age group and Nash is fully funding the tournament from its own coffers,” said Ndlovu.

Meanwhile, the Copa Coca-Cola Matabeleland North provincial finals will be held in Bubi district at the end of June.

The 2019 edition of the Copa Coca-Cola was launched last week at Pamushana High School in Bikita where Nash acting president Arthur Maphosa urged schools to desist from age cheating.