adminRaymond Jaravaza
THE Matabeleland Rugby Football Board (MRFB) has a new boss.
Thulani Tabulawa beat former chairman Theo Weale to take over the position of MRFB boss in elections held at Hartsfield Rugby Ground last month.
Tabulawa is not new in the local rugby scene having played the game at Mpopoma High School in 1982 as a scrumhalf before joining the then Bulawayo Rhinos which later changed its name to Western Suburbs before changing again to Highlanders Rugby Club. The club is now known as the Western Panthers.
After hanging his boots in the year 2000 Tabulawa joined a team of rugby administrators that ran the Coca Cola mini rugby programme targeting schoolboys rugby in the western suburbs.
a�?I would like to see more effort being put into identifying talent in the western suburbs so our immediate mandate as the MRFB is to partner Naph and Nash with a view of forming a local schools rugby league. The idea is to integrate the boys into club rugby for them to continue playing the game up to the highest standard,a�? said Tabulawa.
Naph is the National Association of Primary Heads while Nash stands for National Association of Secondary Heads.
Under former chairman Weale the MRFB successfully resuscitated the Southern Region Rugby League consisting of four Bulawayo based teams Old Miltonians, Western Panthers, Police Bulldogs and Matabeleland Warriors as well as Gweru based Midlands State University and Ancient City Rugby Club from Masvingo.
Midlands State University later withdrew citing lack of funds to travel to Bulawayo to fulfill fixtures and were replaced by Kwekwe Sports Club.
a�?The league will resume in a fortnight and we have decided to rotate the venues instead of hosting all the fixtures at Hartsfield. Bulawayo-based teams will also travel to Kwekwe and Masvingo to ease the burden of travelling on the two clubs that are based out of town,a�? he said.
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