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Dingilizwe Ntuli Sports Editor
THE Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) has been blamed for the rapid decline of the game in the country through their administrative ineptitude. Theo Weale, the Matabeleland Rugby Football Board (MRFB) chairman, said the growth of the sport could only be fostered by establishing, nurturing, promoting and investing in rugby around the country, and not the lip-service paid by ZRU.
Weale, who was elected to head a new committee at a special meeting in July after the previous board was removed through a vote of no confidence, said they were not only looking for financial assistance from ZRU, but also general support for their developmental plans.
He accused ZRU of only focusing on the Harare league since the discontinuation of the National Rugby League last year, saying this was hampering efforts to revive the sport.
“ZRU have let us down. They haven’t held any coaching clinic in Bulawayo and seem only concerned about the Old Mutual schools’ rugby development.
“While there’s nothing wrong with that, ZRU need to change and also come to Bulawayo and not just focus on Harare,” said Weale.
“ZRU mustn’t neglect us. We aren’t saying they must do all the work, but saying they should do something that’ll give us something to work with since we’re starting from scratch,” he said.
Despite the non-engagement, Weale said they were working on introducing a functional Mid/Mat League, involving teams from Bulawayo, Masvingo and Midlands province.
Once they felt the league matches the thriving Harare one, Weale said they would approach ZRU to introduce inter-provincials so that the senior national rugby team becomes more representative by being selected from a wider base.
Presently, the Sables consist of Harare-based and a few foreign-based players.
“At the moment, the Sables are just a Harare select. People don’t have to migrate to Harare or play outside the country to be selected into the national team.
“Right now there’s a player migration to Harare because they realise that’s the only way they can continue playing rugby or make the national team, but we want to change all that,” Weale said.
He said Bulawayo-based clubs Old Miltonians, Matabeleland Busters, Western Panthers and Western Bulldogs have been inactive this year after the Mid/Mat League failed to take off.
Weale said they had come up with the Bulawayo Rugby Cup tournament to end the season so they can go into the new year on a high note.
The tournament should have kicked off in Masvingo on August 29 featuring eight teams, Old Miltonians, Matabeleland Busters, Western Panthers, Western Bulldogs, Gweru, Kwekwe, Kadoma and Masvingo, but failed to take off after the hosts indicated that they could not assemble a team or accommodate the participants.
Weale said despite the setback, the tournament will now start in Gweru on September 12 featuring the same eight teams before ending in Bulawayo on September 26.
“We’re trying to raise some hype so that ordinary people see that rugby isn’t dead and buried. This tournament is also meant to give us a stepping stone going forward into next year,” he said.
Old Miltonians are previous multiple national rugby champions and provided the bulk of national team players during its prime and Weale said their vision was to provide a landscape where rugby is again restored to prominence and, most importantly, youngsters leaving school don’t give up on the game.
He also revealed that the MRFB wanted to adopt Milton High and Gifford High schools as rugby centres of excellence whereby they will refurbish the game’s facilities at the two institutions and ensure that the sport is restored to its former glory.
Weale said the MRFB particularly wants to refurbish the Milton High rugby fields, but were facing challenges from the school’s authorities, whom he branded as anti-rugby.
“We want to restore the Milton High rugby fields to what they used to be.
“The rugby grounds used to be green, but have now been neglected to the extent that other schools have refused to play at Milton because the fields are in a terrible state. But we’ll not give up because we know that Milton has a long and rich history of rugby and sport in general, so we’ll keep trying to change the image of the school,” Weale said.
Online Reporter