Victoria Falls residents call for a united club
WOMEN football in Bulawayo could receive a new lease of life following a decision by Zifa to reawaken regional leagues through providing equipment and funding.
Bulawayo used to be the bedrock of women football in its early days in the 90s with teams such as New Orleans, Highlanders Royals emerging to produce talented players such as Rosemary Mugadza, Nomsa “Boyz” Moyo, Mighty Warriors coach, Sithethelelwe “Kwinji 15” Sibanda, Precious Mpala, Ruth Banda and Fungai Nyamutukwa among others who went on to dominate national squad.
However, there has been a turn in the tide with the province struggling to produce more talent as teams struggled to survive in harsh economic conditions while institution-funded
FOOTBALL stakeholders in Victoria Falls have thrown their weight behind the town’s Southern Region Division One representatives Mosi Rovers as the journey towards integrating all teams for the purpose of bringing topflight football to the resort town gathers momentum.
The idea of establishing a united team for the resort town has been the residents’ wish and recently the corporate world dominated by tourism players indicated it was more than prepared to support a united club.
Victoria Falls, as key as the town is to the country’s economy, has never tasted Premier Soccer League football as no team from the town has ever gained promotion. Over the years, the town has had numerous Division One clubs competing against each other.
One remembers the days of Intundla FC, Gorges Security, Elephant Hills, Savanna, Zamaleck, Super Eagles, Kujatana, Sao Paulo, Trumus, Amagagasi and many others who competed against each other and could not make it to PSL.
Critics who include fans and potential sponsors have advised for incorporation of all teams to form one club saying there was potential if the town supports a single team. On Friday Mosi Rovers unveiled former Bulawayo City coach Try Ncube as their new coach at a ceremony attended by a cross section of football stakeholders as well as a new executive made up of members drawn from different clubs.
Some Victoria Falls Division Two teams such as Corinthians, Nakuluba, Monde, Twelve Stars, Shekina and Classic Luyando have since shown support for Mosi Rovers with some of the latter’s executive members drawn from there.
It remains to be seen if Trumus FC, who are making a return to Division One after getting promoted from Division Two last season will buy the idea, which is not about Mosi Rovers but about having one united team, veteran football administrator Morgen “Gazza” Dube said.
ere was no representative from Trumus on Friday. teams have emerged in Harare to dominate the women’s football landscape.
Bulawayo has turned into a pale shadow of its former self in producing talent and it is hoped the reignition of funded regional leagues will see new talent emerging.
Zifa announced that equipment that will be used by teams playing in the regional leagues has already been handed over to the respective regions as part of efforts to revive the women’s game at grassroots level.
The association will pick up the referees and transport bills.
Zifa technical director Wilson Mutekede expressed delight over the revival of the four regional leagues saying they will play a big role in developing a wider talent pool to fill in the Mighty Warriors.
“It’s an exciting development because we are bringing the game closer to the girl child. The Mighty Warriors have brought us so much joy
“Football is bringing order to what was chaos and we will be bringing order to Victoria Falls if we come up with one team,” said Dube at the occasion.
Guest of honour Clement Mukwasi who was representing the tourism industry said sponsors were tired of a divided community.
“Now is the time we have been waiting for, come together and support Mosi Rovers and mobilise all resources we can into the team. This is the beginning of unity for the town. Let’s forget about failures from previous attempts and be positive because sport is business and a serious agent for unity in any given community. The corporate world is donor fatigued by being asked for sponsorship from different ends yet we can be integrated into one,” said Mukwasi.
He pledged US$500 to the club on behalf of Shearwater Adventures and challenged other companies and individuals to come on board.
Mukwasi, a former Sport and Recreation Commissioner said with a united club, it will be easy to lobby the council for infrastructure development as well as mandate every investor to commit to do something for sports development.
Mosi Rovers chairman Martin Mhlanga said the football sector has a daunting task to bring top flight football to Victoria Falls.
“Other towns have PSL clubs and we don’t have one simply because we don’t have a team belonging to the whole town. We believe we have the capacity and we are confident we have chosen the right person as coach hence we will continue to support him,” said Mhlanga.
The 46-year-old coach, Ncube, is making a return to his home town after guiding Bulawayo City back to PSL last year.
He holds a Caf B badge and needs a Caf A licence to sit on the PSL bench in the event that he leads Mosi Rovers to premiership.
He said he has a list of players he wants to bring to Victoria Falls to achieve his goal of bringing premiership football to the resort town in one season.
“Hunger and desire to make history in Victoria Falls made me come here. Coming up with a single club in Victoria Falls is a very noble idea as we will have a bigger pool to select players from and my task here is to take the team to where it belongs, which is PSL,” he said.
Zifa to revive women’s regional leagues
over the years and with the resuscitation of the regional leagues we will create a bigger pool for the national team coaches to choose from.”
Mutekede also revealed that the girls Under15 league will also come into life this year while sponsors are being courted to come and support the women’s elite league.
In a statement the executive committee said major strides will be made to make sure women’s football is given the prominence it deserves.
“Women’s football is something we take very seriously and the association plans to employ a dedicated women’s football officer to support the cause, we remain committed to the girl child and will in 2020 endeavour to show and demonstrate that both genders are critically important in football development. Administrators will be sharpened through courses so that women’s football develops to another level,” reads part of the statement.