Rugby awards suffer still-birth

15 Sep, 2020 - 15:09 0 Views
Rugby awards suffer still-birth

The Sunday Mail

Sports Reporter

The inaugural edition of the Zimbabwe High School Rugby awards might have suffered a still-birth, but organisers of the event remain resolute in their ambition to launch the programme and start rewarding some of the country’s budding rugby players.

The brainchild of Eaglesvale Primary School rugby coach, Sydney Savanhu, the awards were originally slated for this past August, upon the completion of the schoolboy rugby season, but have been pushed back a year due to the Covid 19 pandemic.

“It goes without saying that the pandemic has been a major disruption to our way of life, moreso in the sporting field,” said Savanhu.

“All contact sports have been put on ice, with their fate to be decided by the Ministry through the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC).

“This resulted in the schoolboy rugby season being cancelled this year, forcing us to push our programme to next year,” he said.

In explaining the rationale behind the awards, Savanhu said, “as you may know, Zimbabwe has been drained of so much talent over the years.

“We have lost players like Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira, David Pocock, Brian Mujati and Tendai Chavhanga and this was because we did not recognise, identify and nurture these players.

‘These awards are just one way of recognising and identifying such talent, and we hope that we inspire more people, or stakeholders, to come onboard and play their part.”

“Once the programme takes off, we will be rewarding players from as low as Under-14 right up to the Under-18 level with our tracking team looking for the best forwards, backline players and Team of the Year.

“There will also be a Player of the Year, Top Scorer and this is for both boys and girls.

“We have already been given the greenlight from the Zimbabwe Rugby Union, and hope to get up and running should the pandemic subside next year.

“The delay has given us more time to polish up on the tracking system, and we have been fortunate enough to have understanding and loyal partners who remain committed to helping us launch this project,” he said.

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