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NEW West City FC will sell their Zifa Southern Region Division One franchise and play as an academy in the Bulawayo Province Division Two league.
This was confirmed by the club director Tumediso Mukwena yesterday.
“We’re in the process of saying to our players they should find clubs in Division One or the Premiership particularly those that have the guts. Our resolve is that we’ll not be playing Division One football. That decision has been passed by the club and will be binding,” said Mukwena.
He said the decision had nothing to do with finances but was made in the interest of the club and the game.
Once in Division Two, he said, he would look for players around the age of 18.
“The future of the game lies in young players and we’ve realised our contribution to the game could be better if we went that route and groomed stars for tomorrow. We want young players around the age of 18 that we can groom and sell,” said Mukwena who is also a Zifa Southern Region board member.
He expressed disappointment with the attitude of Premiership clubs saying there was a tendency for players from the second tier league to be ignored. This, he said, was frustrating for those who were sinking a fortune at that level.
“You find at times Premiership clubs opting for Division Two players when there’s a Division One player who is good,” said the New West boss.
At times, he said, there’s a “big brother” mentality by big clubs when they just grab players without compensating for their development.
“Clubs should not be bullies and act like they’re Big Brothers when they want players from the lower division clubs. They must be gentlemen and act professionally for the good of the game in line with expectations of club licensing. For now I’m done with Division One football and I’m going down to Division Two to start afresh and follow the club licensing to the book so that the game benefits,” said Mukwena.
Division One has no spectatorship to talk about except in places like Beitbridge and Victoria Falls and in the absence of a sponsor, individuals and companies are burdened with funding for no return at all.
Many Division One clubs have been kept afloat by the commitment and passion for the game by people like Mukwena and Plumtree FC’s Lovemore Sibanda.
Many individually-owned clubs like Motor Action have collapsed and the Premiership is returning to a situation where the majority of the clubs belong to institutions.
Online Reporter