Women soccer league split rejected

Sports Correspondent
THE Zimbabwe Women Football executive has rejected calls for the national Super League to be split.
Teams in the league had sought to reduce expenditure on travelling and accommodation through playing games closer to their bases.
The clubs had suggested that two leagues be formed with one having teams from Zifa’s Southern and Central regions while the other would feature teams based in the Northern and Eastern regions as a way of minimising expenses as the league has no sponsor.

The suggestions were made during a meeting between the teams and ZWF executive on 26 April.
ZWF chairperson Miriam Sibanda said while the suggestion was made by clubs it did not see the light of the day as the split would defeat the whole purpose of coming up with a national league.

“It was just a suggestion that came up during discussions we had with teams but it was shot down because there was a realisation that it would no longer be a national league if it were to split into two,’’ said Sibanda.

Sibanda said they would continue looking for sponsors but in the meantime the league would kick off in mid-June. She said to ease the financial burden of travelling teams, initial fixtures would be against teams in or closest to their home towns.

“For instance the teams in Mutare would play their home and away games against each other first while we are still scouting around for a sponsor,” said Sibanda.

The league will this year feature 16 teams from across the country.
Clubs had suggested that one pool be made up of teams from Bulawayo, Hwange, Gweru and Masvingo while the other would consist of teams in Harare and Mutare. The top two in each league would then meet to decide the champions.

The Super League ran into the doldrums last year when Marange Resources stopped funding the league and teams failed to get prizes for their efforts in the 2012 season. Despite paying affiliation fees pegged at $500 the league never took off although there were repeated promises by the then Mavis Gumbo-led executive to kick-off the league.

It is not clear what happened to the prize money and the Marange sponsorship as no reason was put forward by the executive and the diamond mining firm preferred to keep mum on the issue.

Marange had poured in a lucrative sponsorship deal worth $3 million that covered the national women’s league and national teams. Teams in the Super League had their transport, accommodation and kits catered for in the deal as they do not generate any revenue from gate takings.

Another issue that was a thorn in the flesh for clubs was the payment of affiliation fees again this year, when they had paid last year but the games were not played.

Sibanda said the issue was raised but the new executive felt it could not pay for the sins of their predecessors.
An official at one of the clubs said they were bitter at having to pay affiliation fees again when they had paid for a season and they did not kick the ball.

Sibanda was adamant it was a problem created by the old executive and her new committee should not shoulder it. “We made it clear to the clubs it was not our problem, we were not in office at the time and the affiliation fees are paid every year hence this is a new season hence they should be paid,” she said.

The fees are pegged at $400 per club this year.
There is yet to be a handover takeover meeting between the old and new ZWF executives, which Sibanda said should be facilitated by the Zifa chief executive officer, Jonathan Mashingaidze.

Clubs feel there are a lot of unanswered questions hanging over the Gumbo-led executive among them issues to do with the 2012 Super League prize money and lack of sponsorship.

“It is not an event but a process that would involve the old executive writing a report then we might get some of the answers the clubs have been looking for,” said Sibanda.