adminJeffrey Murimbechi Sports Correspondent
National Rugby League president Noddy Kanyangarara says his committee is determined to keep relegated Zvishavane Bulls while ushering in Mutare Sports Club who earned promotion from the Metropolitan League last year.
Kanyangarara said the reprieve given to Zvishavane Bulls was meant to give them more exposure so that they remain motivated.
“Unlike soccer where each season begins with promotion and demotion of teams, we would like to keep teams such as Zvishavane in the top-flight league because the circumstances by which rugby exists at the moment do not allow for lower-tier teams to survive such stringent rules.
“We want to aim for competitiveness and this can only be achieved if teams get more exposure in the top league.
“It is a trend that emerging teams do not perform very well at the beginning, just as Zvishavane did, but they gradually improve and it will be in the best interest of rugby if we keep them in the NRL,” said Kanyangarara.
The NRL previously featured eight top rugby clubs in Zimbabwe but the new proposal will see the number increase to nine.
Quite often, newly-promoted teams falter and are dismissed within their first or second seasons.
Gweru Sports Club entered the league in 2012 and faced similar challenges and were almost relegated.
Had they been sent down, the Midlands team would not have had the chance to put up an improved show as they did last year.
The Bulls had a catastrophic start to the big league as they slumped to huge defeats but later closed the gap between them and the big teams.
Mutare is the other city outside Harare and Bulawayo which can sustain a huge local rugby following because of the history of the Sports Club.
Online Reporter