The Sunday Mail
Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE Rugby Union (ZRU) have ramped up development programmes for the women’s game partly to help curb the rise in child marriages.
The union’s expert coach, Godwin “Jaws’’ Murambiwa, who has previously coached the Sables and the national Under-20 side (the Junior Sables), argues there is need for a holistic approach in growing the women’s game.
The Women Sables, which were recently handed four successive defeats by Zambia and Uganda in back-to-back fixtures, will soon return to competitive rugby.
Speaking to ZRU’s newsletter, In-Touch, Murambiwa said it was important to understand the girl-child and challenges they face as they transition to adulthood.
“This (child marriages) limits, if not extinguishes, any embers of hope of advancement in a girl’s chosen sport,’’ he said.
“Early child pregnancies and subsequent early marriages are taking away some of the rugby talent from the fields too soon.
“This is compounded by the fact that from a tender age, the girl-child has lacked access to opportunities to play rugby as it has been perceived to be a dangerous sport.
“The social stigma, discrimination based on the real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity of women in rugby also discourages the talented players from pursuing their rugby careers.”
The head of ZRU’s technical committee, which oversees all national teams, said the union was working to improve the number of trained coaches and experienced women in different facets of the game, including administration and refereeing, who can be assigned in communities. There is also an ongoing drive to ensure that at least 30 percent of all rugby course participants are women.
The absence of female role models, Murambiwa added, is making it difficult for rugby to be attractive to girls.
He, however, praised Rugby Africa’s Unstoppables series, which made it possible for many courageous women to break the glass ceiling in the game in their communities, regions, Africa and the world stage.
“The women’s game needs a concerted and multi-sectoral involvement to shrug off the constraints the women face in taking up sport and rugby. The more women participate in sports and rugby in particular, the larger the pool we will have to select the national team players from.”
ZRU women’s rugby committee chairperson Abigail Mnikwa said they were aware of the challenges the Women Sables were facing.
“We are looking to increase women participation in rugby by intensifying our recruitment drive in the schools and have more schools playing rugby,’’ Mnikwa said.
She said they plan to set up high-performance squads for both versions of the game – the fifteens and sevens – that will see rugby being played throughout the year.
ZRU president Aaron Jani has also established a scholarship programme for young women in rugby across the country.
The girls will be selected through the provinces and seconded to national team coaches.
Their tuition fees and sanitary requirements will be catered for under the scholarship programme, while those who would have finished secondary school and advanced would have their tertiary education fees paid.
Some corporates and friends of rugby have been approached to offer internship opportunities.
Jani urged parents and guardians to support the girl-child in their sporting careers just as they would the boy-child.
The ZRU have also made it a policy that “all senior men’s teams must have a women’s team that will play in the women’s section of the league, and the men’s sides will co-opt the women coaches into their coaching ranks and coach with them so they improve on their skills’’.
