Be disciplined, Langa urges football players
INSIZA North Member of Parliament Andrew Langa has urged footballers to embrace discipline as it is a trait that can make one succeed in the sport. Speaking during the Insiza District Social League awards ceremony, Langa said for one to achieve in football or any other career in life they have to be disciplined.
He said many a talent went to waste because one would have failed to maintain discipline.
The ceremony witnessed the crowning of the 2016 IDSL champions, Kent Mine together with the honouring of the first and second runners up, Kill Once and Sky Birds respectively.
“Wayward behaviour in sport can greatly harm your career. Football needs discipline and it will take you far. It is important to respect your coaches, teammates and opponents in the game and not to allow your temper to control you.
“Look at Peter Ndlovu, he was one of our greatest players in the country and for me his biggest attribute after his talent was discipline. You can be talented but if you lack discipline you are unlikely to achieve much because people also look at your character whenever they want to recruit you,” said Langa.
The IDSL was started in 2014 as a way of harnessing football talent in the area. League chairman, Sydney Sibanda said they are aiming at having a formal league that would be recognised by and affiliated to the country’s football mother body, Zifa.
He said it was their dream to see a team from the area progress to the top flight league in the country.
“We are developing as a league and our ambition is to have a recognised formal structure that would be affiliated to Zifa. We have been slowly building the league over the years and I think we can come up with a strong Division Two league that would be feeding the Division One league,” said Sibanda.
He said part of their programme is to empower coaches, referees and administrators with the requisite skills, adding it has been a bumpy ride so far.
Sibanda added proper structures cannot sustain where there are no properly t r a ined officials.
“Our coaches need to get the right qualifications so they meet Zifa requirements while the administrators need to learn how the game is managed and run so that we can have well-run clubs who won’t be overwhelmed by moving to a top league.
“Referees play a crucial role in matches and they need to be qualified but we do not have them here so we have to train them first. The ones we have are not yet fully qualified,” he said.
The league has 16 teams that drawn from various areas within the Insiza District.
Meanwhile, businessman and miner Trynos Nkomo sponsored the Insiza North constituency Unity Cup final to the tune of $1 200. The final which was bankrolled through the miner’s Bunnys Luck 2 Mine pitted Kill Once and Kent Mine. The former won 3-2 on penalties after the two had drawn one-all in regulation time. The Unity Cup final was graced by Langa, councillors and local traditional leaders.
“Though we were invited to sponsor the tournament on a very short notice I am glad to say that it went on well. When one is called by the local leadership it’s an honour and it is always prudent to oblige and considering the importance of the day we had to adjust some of our commitment to support this worthy cause,” said Nkomo.
He pledged to have the tourney featuring in the district’s sporting calendar annually with an increased sponsorship package.
“Going forward we are going to be sponsoring the tournament through Ilasha Mine one of the companies owned by Avion B Mine which is based in that constituency and plans have been made to make it big,” Nkomo said.