adminInitially the league programme was set to start last Saturday but the league chiefs, led by chairman Nody Kanyangarara and fixtures secretary Larry Chikukura, decided to have the games start this coming Saturday.
“We had to postpone the games because of several issues that included the fact that the teams had not yet fully complied with the player registration process and we have given them another week to do so of which after this coming Friday we will be penalising of fining them.
“The second reason is that Delta are our main sponsors and they also take care of the kit. This means that the clubs were supposed to hand in their team sponsor’s logos so that they could be printed on their jerseys but they did not.
“Our kit supplier or manufacturer could not process these in batches so he asked for all the logos so that he could have them printed at one go but again, the clubs did not hand in their logos in time and so we saw it fit to postpone the league start to this Saturday,” said Chikukura.
However, it was a good opening to the NRL as Delta Beverages, through their Lion Lager brand, consolidated their commitment to the sponsorship of the league they have been a part of for the past three years.
Despite the fact that the three-year marriage that started in 2011 is expected to come to an end at the end of this season, Delta Beverages marketing executive, Patricia Murambinda, indicated that they were in talks with the league chiefs for a possible extension of the partnership.
This year the league will comprise of teams mostly from the Southern Region following the demotion of Harare’s Airforce and the promotion of Midlands side Zvishavane Bulls.
This means that champions Harare Sports Club, Old Hararians and Old Georgians will be the only teams from the capital that will be taking part in the league in a shift of dominance from the capital to other parts of the country.
Chikukura also added that only the first two weeks of the fixtures calendar are definite as they were still working with the Zimbabwe Rugby Union through the Sables and Cheetahs committees to reserve the international duty days fixture-free.
“We are still talking to the national committees so that we know which days to reserve and that is why so far we have only confirmed the first two weeks of the league fixtures as this will have an effect on the rest of the league programme,” said Chikukura.
Newly-promoted Zvishavane Bulls will kick off the league programme with a date against former champions Old Georgians as rugby action returns to the McAdam Rugby Field in the mining town of Zvishavane.
According to the provisional fixture-list Harare Sports Club start off their title defence with a home clash against Gweru Sports Club at Harare Sports Club where Old Hararians will also take on Old Miltonians.
Last year’s runners-up Matland Warriors will take on Western Panthers in Bulawayo derby at the Hartsfield Rugby Grounds.
The second week of the league on April 20 will see three quarters of the league games taking place at Hartsfield where Panthers take on Gweru Sports Club, Old Miltonians date Harare Sports Club with the Warriors taking on the Bulls in the main game of the day.
Online Reporter