adminHe said such conduct was not good for the sport.
This comes in the wake of Lobengula Miracle and Chicken Inn’s wrangle over a junior player. He said movement at this stage should be free for the boys to be in environments that suit them best.
In an interview last week Mafu, who is the sponsor of Lobengula Miracle Academy, said Zimbabwe had not reached a stage where one team could sell a player to the other at junior level.
He challenged the Zimbabwe Junior Soccer League board to put rules that govern the transfer of these future soccer stars and protect them from being used by owners who want to capitalise on them in future.
“Our junior football has of recent years been infiltrated by greedy people who put money first at the expense of training and grooming tomorrow’s talented youngsters. The Zimbabwe Football Association should come up with rules that stop this kind of money making in the juniors academies. We need to groom tomorrow’s footballers and benefit from them when they are playing competitive football in the top league,” said Mafu.
Mafu, who is now based in the United Kingdom, also lamented the way soccer standards and performances have gone down. He said that yesteryear soccer stars were a marvel to watch and there was a need for proper grooming of players.
“I can see that our football is going down as compared to the time I was Zimbabwe Saints coach with the likes of Ronald ‘Gidiza’ Sibanda under my tutelage, they were a marvel to watch. We need to encourage and groom our juniors for them to play competitive football,” he said.
Lobengula Miracle Academy is a Lobengula-based soccer team that boasts of young talented players, the likes of former Warriors midfield maestro’s son Brandon Sibanda and Sizalobuhle Dube’s son, William Guvimbe.
Online Reporter