Sundaymail Editor
Sports Reporter
IT is famed for hosting famous battles and is regarded as the home of rugby, but Hartsfield Ground in Bulawayo is now a pale shadow of the iconic venue where the Sables stunned the mighty All Blacks of New Zealand.
The Sables tore the form book on July 27, 1949 when they posted a 10-8 win over New Zealand before a partisan 10 000 crowd.
For decades that followed, the team always seemed to find their best when playing at Hartsfield, while Bulawayo Metropolitan Province became reputed as the conveyor belt of the country’s finest rugby talent.
But over the last few years, the province slumped in terms of its development programmes, while Hartsfield became popular for musical shows and braaing escapades.
The Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) and the Bulawayo Metropolitan Rugby Football Board (BMRFB) have, however, ramped up efforts to ensure rugby returns to its traditional home.
ZRU president Aaron Jani, who has since made three trips to Bulawayo to link up with his deputy Martin Shone, paid tribute to the BMRFB leadership for the commitment they have shown to revive the game.
The union acknowledged the work being done to ensure that the province, which gave the nation a fine backliner called Victor Olonga and current Sables coach Brendan Dawson, among a host of greats, shines once again.
“The ZRU and the BMRFB have resolved to work together in reviving rugby in Bulawayo. The parties have since resolved their differences. They have agreed in principle to work together on a comprehensive plan to engage all stakeholders and the corporate world as they embark on this drive.
“ZRU president Mr Aaron Jani has expressed high hopes that once the lockdown is over, Bulawayo will once again be the hive of rugby activity.
“This was echoed by BMRFB chairman Mr Craig Change,” the union said.
Jani, a former Zimbabwe international who also honed his skills in the province when he turned out for Old Miltonians, said it was imperative to resuscitate development programmes to unearth talent.
“Yes, I went to Bulawayo three times for the meetings.
“On the recent trip I had a meeting with Mr Change and Mr Ncube from BMRFB where we finalised issues.
“The meeting culminated with a trip to Hartsfield to assess the situation on the ground. We agreed on an action plan to get Hartsfield back to pristine state.
“Unfortunately, there are no quick solutions. Chief among our plans are to dig up and replant Hartsfield, and that will take time. The more immediate action will be to ensure bank accounts can operate normally to begin the restoration exercise . . .,” Jani said.
Change said they had undertaken a skills and fitness enriching programme for the players as they seek to bring back the glory days when Highlanders, Busters and Old Miltonians ensured Bulawayo always had a say in the national game.
“We want to be player-biased through our clubs. We have a programme for players. We are currently working as a board with our clubs and through our director of rugby to have a robust skills enriching and fitness programme with the players of all our teams,” said Change.
“We also have taken colleges and schools into our plans; this evidenced by inclusion of school and college representatives into our board so that their interests are properly ventilated. It is a board resolution to harness and retain talent from schools and colleges and feed them into the national pool.
“We want to align our ideas with those of the ZRU so that we have some congruency of goals. We will be in continued engagements with the mother body and we are going to reach out to the corporate world to try and harness resources to make our operations smooth and to make rugby great again,” Change said.
Change said although the Covid-19-induced lockdown had pegged them back, they were busy with strategy development and engagements with ZRU for a comprehensive return of rugby.
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