adminJeffrey Murimbechi Sports Correspondent
GWERU and Bulawayo will once again host this week’s Lion Lager National Rugby League fixtures as the premier domestic tournament draws nearer to the play-offs with each week . Today’s matches are primarily meant to bridge the gap between teams that still had extra games in hand. League president, Noddy Kanyangarara, said it was part of the league’s development plans to spread the game away from the capital to reach out to the masses by taking competitive rugby nearer to where they live.
“We have eight teams in the league, three of them are from Harare, three are from Bulawayo and the remaining two are from Zvishavane and Gweru.
“It is part of our way of spreading the game further by broadening our scope of matches to all these cities as much as possible because that’s the only way the NRL can grow.
“Harare and Bulawayo have the highest numbers of fans attending matches on any given week and we would like to see places like Gweru and Zvishavane growing too in numbers,” said Kanyangarara.
Harare teams usually have the comfort of home crowds, familiar fields and are free from the hustle of having to travel a day before a match to other cities.
Retired Zimbabwe international and Harare Sports Club player Tafadzwa Mhende acknowledged the advantages of playing at home and how it is difficult it is to play away from your home crowd.
“Playing away from home is very difficult especially when you have to travel for about four hours and play soon after.
“We have seen visiting teams being worn out because of that.
“Crowds out of Harare such as Bulawayo are passionate about their teams and they come out and love to see their teams win.
“They love rugby but that will not be a major distraction for us because we have the pressure to win matches as defending champions,” said Mhende.
Gweru Sports Club have the big task of hosting the Old Georgians’ Dragons in the only fixture in the Midlands city.
Online Reporter