adminFungayi Munyoro Sports Correspondent
EMBATTLED Zimbabwe Women Football national chairperson Miriam Sibanda said that it was heartening to note that the season ended most teams fulfilling their games.
“I and my two colleagues Ben Mamoche and Edwin Magosvongwe coordinated the league despite being embroiled in protracted leadership wrangles with fellow board members. As leaders of woman football we are grateful that the season has ended with minimal friction among clubs.
“To us single one of the ten clubs that took part in our league is a winner. They are winners because they showed passion and commitment by continuing to ply under difficult and very hostile conditions,” she said.
Sibanda said that it was saddening to note that clubs that invested a lot of effort, human, monetary and material resources into women football were forced to play under threats of suspensions and constant harassment.
She also added that the protracted power struggles within the ZWF short changed the development of women football.
“Our league was regarded as renegade league. We had to do with retired referees as active referees were barred from officiating any of our league games by Zifa chief executive Jonathan Mashingaidze. Players and technical staff were constantly threatened with expulsion from football by ZIFA,” she said.
She also added that towards the end of the season it had become difficult for clubs to fulfill fixtures due to financial challenges. She said her executive is working on rewarding the clubs in 2016 before the next season kicks off.
“We remain optimistic that the newly elected ZIFA board and president in particular Philipp Chiyangwa will find time to resolve our issues so that we focus on playing and developing the game,” she said.
Black Rhinos Queens of Harare are the 2015 Zimbabwe Women’s National League Champions. The army side lost a single match to amass 43 points from 13 wins and four draws.
They were also the top goal scorers finding the net 73 times and conceding only eight goals.Runners up are Air Force side Chapungu Queens of Gweru with 34 points followed by Mutare Correctional Services team Tenax Queens with 32 point.Anchoring the log is the Bulawayo side Cowdray Park Queens who were forced to forfeit seven games during the second half of the season due to financial challenges.
Meanwhile it is still game on the other league run by the vice chairperson Elizabeth Langa.
Speaking from her Bulawayo base Langa said that they are still continuing with their games after the festive season break.“We are still continuing with our league. We had taken a break but everything is in place now and hope to finish our remaining games soon. We could not finish on time because some clubs released their players for national team. Since our league is divided into two pools, winners in pool A will meet with winners in pool B they we will come up with the overall winner,” she said.
Online Reporter