Sports administration declines

Dingilizwe Ntuli
OUR domestic sport administration is headed into a rapid decline and a foreboding cloud of doom has overtaken a once-jubilant and thriving fan base. Nowadays, hardly a week goes by without some form of incompetence unfolding at a national association.

The Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) appears hell-bent on self-destruction by somehow adopting Zifa tendencies ahead of a crucial tie.

Zifa’s myopic treatment of national teams, the Warriors, Young Warriors and Mighty Warriors, is well documented, and that the same bungling faces continue to run domestic football’s governing body remains a mystery.

The national soccer teams have had to endure treacherous camping conditions and uncertain travel arrangements ahead of important matches all due to Zifa’s continued indifference.

Players and the technical staff often have to fend for themselves when in camp and go for months without being paid.

This bad administration has not gone unnoticed and now ZRU have emerged as good imitators of terrible management with the outcome almost resembling Zifa’s famous bungling.

The senior national rugby team, the Sables, face Namibia today in Windhoek with the winners being crowned African champions.

The Sables faced similar problems to the national soccer teams while preparing for today’s encounter. Although not much noise was made about their poor preparations, the Sables hardly had a proper camp as most players trained from home. Only a few foreign-based players were in camp.

ZRU has a huge unpaid bill at the Zesa Training Institute in Harare where the Sables camped for their previous two home games against Kenya and Tunisia, and could therefore not secure the same venue for the entire squad.

Some players from outside Harare reportedly had to squat with friends and use their own resources to attend training sessions.

Just like the Young Warriors, the rugby players also had to buy their own food after ZRU said they were broke.

ZRU couldn’t even provide the squad with drinking water during their training sessions, but instead of addressing the crisis, the union’s chief executive Colleen de Jong simply offered to bring water from her house for the players and told them that they would not get any allowances for today’s tie.

De Jong should have offered her resignation instead of offering the players her water. This is sadly the mess that ZRU now find themselves in when a chief executive thinks providing her personal water would ease the bad preparations caused by her union.

I’m certain the players could have carried their own water to training and all they wanted was for ZRU to play their part by meeting them halfway since they are on national duty.

They felt abandoned and needed assurances from the union that they were not alone, and not de Jong’s water.

No wonder rugby is dying in Zimbabwe and things must change at ZRU if the game is to be rescued before the unfolding crisis develops into a full-blown disaster.

The truth is that had the Namibian journey not been an all expenses paid trip, the Sables would have been stranded and caused further embarrassment to the country.

Sports associations are there to serve the athletes and fans and not themselves and ZRU owe the disenchanted players and rugby lovers an apology for ruining the game through their stubborn self-interest.

Sport is now a professional enterprise and the players just want to be treated as professionals with proper administrative structures to support them.

These administrators ought to have a winning mentality, but sadly such individuals seem not to exist at ZRU and most of our national sports associations.

If ZRU had such individuals, then there certainly would have been a functional national rugby league to expand the pool from which to select the national team and to improve quality of the domestic game through increased competition.

The health of the game at the grassroots level is worrying and de Jong would do well to tell us what genuine strategies ZRU have to keep young school leavers interested in the game.

Secondary schools’ rugby is in reasonable shape, although it’s totally dependent on the whim of a few private schools, but the biggest problem is the apparent inability of ZRU to cater for school leavers.

De Jong should be working on reviving the national league and finding sponsorship to ensure we have thriving clubs that can absorb all talented school leavers to ensure they are not lost.

Zimbabwe has lost a number of its bright stars to neighbouring South Africa and abroad and this trend will continue for as long as ZRU retains their appalling business as usual approach.

Good luck to the Sables against Namibia today!