Zim Saints mull PSL return

FORMER Premier Soccer League champions, Zimbabwe Saints, are aiming for a return to top flight football next year and would not consider starting from the bottom.
The club’s life member and secretary, Caleb Sengu said they would not consider re-launching the team in the Division Three league but would rather go for a franchise in either the PSL or Division One.

Saints were ejected from the Zifa Southern Region Division One this year following failure to pay affiliation fees.
Sengu said Division Three was too low for the club and it would only be best if they went to Division One but were seriously eyeing a berth in the PSL if there was a franchise on offer. “I don’t think a club of Saints’ stature should go to the lower divisions but we should make efforts to go straight to the PSL or Division One. After convening a meeting on 24 September at a local hotel and choosing Vincent Pamire as the chairman of the board of trustees, we decided to focus on reviving Saints’ clubhouse which we believe has the potential to generate revenue and enable us to move forward as a club,” said Sengu.

Sengu said the meeting of the clubs’ life members brought renewed vigour to resurrect the team that at one time was one of the country’s biggest football institutions.

He said they realised the immediate vehicle they could use to generate funds for the team was their clubhouse, which has been lying idle and was not being used to its full potential.

Sengu said they selected a board of trustees which had several business people to ensure they assist the club generate revenue streams they can rely on for cash instead of resorting to the begging bowl.

Saints trustees include Felix Dzumbunu, Winston Babbage, Tawanda Ruzive, Never Nduru, Martin Mabvira, Roger Russell, Charles Chiponda, Godfrey Mashayanhaya, Musekiwa Kumbula and Nobert Sebastian. He said during the meeting of life members it was agreed that a new executive committee be elected along with a technical committee and supporters committee.

He said the trustees would be responsible for overseeing the set up of these other committees although no timeline had been set. “We felt that a technical committee made up of Saints sons would enable the team to last the distance in whatever league we would be in. A supporters committee is also critical because we need to harness the power of the supporters as we revive the club,” he said.