The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Kusema —
A HUGE cloud of uncertainty hovers over the proposed return of the National Rugby League as the embattled Zimbabwe Rugby Union struggles to secure the US$280 000 needed to successfully run the competition. “We have sent out proposals to a number of potential partners,” said ZRU vice-president Noddy Kanyangarara.
The ZRU has undertaken to run and oversee the operations of the league, with ten teams set to be adopted into the new system. But their empty coffers are making it hard to walk the talk. The proposed league will see 10 teams playing over 20 weeks on a home and away basis. A play-off involving the top four teams will decide the league winner.
The 10 teams earmarked for the NRL are Harare Sports Club, Old Georgians, Old Hararians, Matabeleland Warriors, Old Miltonians, Western Panthers, Mutare, Police Defenders and new boys Old Johannes and Bulldogs.
With the teams spread across Zimbabwe, Kanyangarara said transport costs constituted the biggest chunk of the money needed to run the NRL.
“The ideal solution would be to get something to cover the teams’ transport costs and get to have the league start on April 8 as scheduled start while we continue working on addressing the other issues.
“We are not just begging, we also intend to dig deep into our coffers and see what we can cover by ourselves, but the bill for weekly travels is just way too high for us.
“Ideally, we would want to have a professionally run league, where our teams are properly kitted, have medical personnel ready to attend to them and matches while everyone gets something at the end of the season. “Fortunately, there are ways of navigating around all these things, and buy ourselves more time, but the transport issue is none-negotiable.”The ZRU was expected to meet last night to fine tune a proposal they intend to table to a funeral services provider they would like to help sponsor the league.
“We have a number of sponsors that we have approached and I know there is a plan to approach Nyaradzo. However, we need the input of the clubs so we will put it to them and get their input before we approach the company,” said a senior official.
