Chronicle Editor
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
Zimbabwe Rugby Union partners Titan Law wanted naming rights at Hartsfield rugby grounds in Bulawayo which would have seen the iconic venue being known as Titan Park for a period of 10 years.
The law firm, owned by Sports and Recreation Commission board chairman Gerald Mlotshwa, had planned to renovate Hartsfield into a top-class facility, which included the building of a hotel to accommodate international teams.
However, their 2018 bid, via ZRU was turned down by the Bulawayo Metropolitan Rugby Football Board whose chairman Craig Change yesterday told Chronicle Sport that they could not sell their birth right for a few pieces of silver.
However, a source from ZRU on Friday made startling claims that some members of BMRFB actually wanted kickbacks for the deal to sail through.
“How can he talk of birth rights? The improvements that were going to be made at Hartsfields grounds, even if the sponsor fell out of favour with the Board, there is nowhere he was going to lift the stadium and take it to Harare. You cannot lift an immovable property, so there is no selling. It was also a lease for 10 years and now we are like three or four years and that guy would have been left with about six years but improvements would have been permanent. These guys wanted kickbacks to let Titan Law take over the place. It was just naming rights, he wanted to change the name from Hartsfields to Titan Park, that happens everywhere, that Johannesburg Stadium is now called Emirates Park, people pay money to have their names inscribed on stadiums and it doesn’t change anything,” said the source.
More to follow…..
Online Reporter