Nash U-20 tourney begins

THE National Association of Secondary School Heads Under- 20 football tournament takes off today i n most of the country’s 10 provinces as t hey hold t heir zonal competitions.

This year’s t ournament got a timely boost with Proton Bakery and Surrey Group coming on board with a sponsorship package of $ 5 000.

The NASH tournament, which is an annual event, will see schools from across t he country battling it out to earn t heir places at t he national f inals i n Masvingo from October 6 to 8.

And, for most provinces, the battle begins today with t he zonal competitions.

Winners will progress to t he district competition scheduled for September 22 before going for t he provincial f inals which will culminate in t he national f inals next month.

However, Bulawayo will have their provincial f i nals on September 22 while Mashonaland West will have t heirs on September 30.

Nash national head i n charge of football, Albert Mucheka, implored t he participants to adhere to t he rules and regulations of t he tournament by f ielding t he correct agegroup.

“We expect all our games to be played according to t he rules and reg ulat i ons of t he t ournament, adhering to t he age stipulated.

“We are dealing with Under20 and we expect only t hose with national i dentit y cards to compete. The idea being t hat we want t he people of t he same age group to compete. Vetting should take place because what we want i s people to adhere to t he regulations f rom t he zonals to national level,” said Mucheka.

Mucheka said t he coming i n of Proton and Surrey i s a positive development for the tournament that had been running without a sponsor over t he past years.

“As Nash we just got a sponsor, Proton and Surrey and we expect people to do t heir competitions strictly according to t he laid down rules and regulations so t hat we remain with our sponsor and ensure t hey have something to play for.

“The Under- 20 has done quite a lot, in the past that was the age- group sponsored by Coca- Cola before they moved to younger age- groups and it produced players l i ke Peter Ndlovu and Washington Arubi.

“We believe it has done a lot i n producing players who have played locally and internationally.

“The fact t hat we had no sponsor, it was a drawback for us and the coming in of Proton and Surrey is a good t hing for us.

We hope it will contribute to t he development of football,” said Mucheka.

The sponsorship was unveiled early last month with t he winners set to get $ 800 while the runners- up will walk away with $ 500.