adminSenior Sports Reporter
THE National Rugby League is courting mobile telecommunications company NetOne to rescue them from having a premature end to the 2014 season.
The country’s rugby flagship was forced to suspend their matches last week with six rounds of games left following the clubs’ failure to secure resources to travel for their encounters. Noddy Kanyangarara, the NRL chairman, confirmed that they had approached NetOne to save their campaign.
“The corporate that we have been talking to so that they rescue our season is NetOne. We shall know the fate probably before the end of the week and if we fail to get them on board, this might see us being forced to end the season prematurely,” he said.
Kanyangarara said it would be disastrous for NRL to hastily end their season whose competition has reached climax with four clubs Old Hararians, Harare Sports Club, Old Georgians and Matabeleland Busters all competing for two home semi-finals.
“We have an exciting league and what we need are teams to return to the field and play rugby so that we have a product that we can sell to potential sponsors for next season. We can’t afford to prematurely end our season because it will be difficult to have a product which we can present to would be partners.
“We approached ZRU to present our problem because the challenges affecting NRL have an effect on national team programmes as most of the players that represent the country ply their trade in our local league. What is needed is for everyone to work together for the good of the game and show a united front for the good of rugby,” Kanyangarara said.
The ZRU said it is working hand in glove with the NRL in the hunt for sponsorship so that the domestic action resumes.
“We are fully aware of the challenges that NRL are facing and we are working together to address the prevailing situation. Actually we are waiting for the outcome of the sponsorship talks that NRL leadership are working on which are at an advanced stage. We are rallying behind the NRL because they are an organ of ZRU and as such they are the flagship of the country’s rugby. We cannot afford to have them not playing any games,” said Godfrey Koti, the ZRU spokesman.
The crisis that NRL faces comes barely a month after the International Rugby Board (IRB) regional development manager for Africa Jean-Luc Barthes’ visit to Zimbabwe where he discussed ZRU’s future programmes.
Barthes’ visit was in line with the IRB’s governance protocols and the ZRU’s commitment to maintain accountability and responsibility in the game in Zimbabwe. ZRU pushed for an upward review of the IRB grant given to the national association to enable them to embark on their developmental programmes.
Every year ZRU gets a grant of 90,000 pounds for its programmes and they might be forced to give a certain portion of that amount to NRL so that it concludes it’s 2014 season.
NRL Table as of September 1
P W L D F A Dif Bonus Pts Total
Old Hararians 9 7 2 0 510 105 405 10 28 38
Harare Sports Club 9 7 1 1 514 109 405 7 30 37
Old Georgians 9 7 2 0 489 112 377 7 28 35
Matabeleland Busters 8 6 1 1 242 106 136 5 26 31
Western Panthers 8 4 4 0 151 445 -294 3 16 19
Old Miltonians 9 3 6 0 174 258 -84 5 12 17
Mutare Sports Club 9 3 6 0 105 297 -182 2 12 14
Gweru Sports Club 9 1 8 0 169 350 -181 3 4 7
Zvishavane Bulls 8 0 8 0 35 607 -572 0 0 0
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