Hadebe in winning debut
ZIMBABWE international Teenage Hadebe made a winning league debut in his Turkish side Yen Malatyaspor’s 3-0 win over Istanbul Basak on Sunday.
Istanbul Basak had in their line up former Chelsea striker Demba Ba, French international and former Arsenal left-back Gael Clichy, Brazilian Robinho as well as on loan Barcelona player Arda Turan.
Hadebe, who joined the European side from South African PSL club Kaizer Chiefs this year, played the whole 90 minutes and capped a fine evening’s performance with a 90-minute assist for the third goal scored by Moryke Fofana from Cote D’Ivoire.
On a night in which Turkish giants Galatasaray lost their opening match 0-2 to Denilispor, Hadebe’s team shot into the lead late in the second half when Brazilian Guilherme Marques scored in the 68th minute before Adis Sahovic made it 2-0 three minutes before regulation time.
It looked like they would settle for an opening 2-0 win until a combination of Hadebe and Fofana saw the home team recording an emphatic 3-0 league season opener win that leaves them third on the table by virtue of an inferior goal difference.
“It was a tough game, especially when you look at some of the names which were in their union during his time as Matabeleland Tuskers captain.
In late 2014, all the country’s domestic players went on strike, their second in as many seasons. Through a representative, lawyer Eliah Zvimba, an agreement was brokered to get them playing again, and it hinged on the upcoming World Cup, and the financial windfall that would come with it for participating teams.
“The agreement was that that money should filter down all the way from the national captain to the club cricketer in Zimbabwe,” Mamhiyo said.
“All the players agreed to this. But the battle went on and on, and again it was (the) divide and conquer (plan).”
Instead of being shared among all the cricketers in the country, the World Cup money went primarily to the national squad. The union was broken.
“If 15 players are going to eat the whole cake, then what happens to the rest of the players?” Mamhiyo asked.
“It’s things like that that will always cripple the players.”
Players are made doubly vulnerable by the challenging economic situation in Zimbabwe and the lack of any alternative to cricket, having turned professional straight out of high school.
“At times, people are pressed to make choices that they wouldn’t normally make. Sometimes it’s just the economy that dictates things. A sport is an extension of the culture of a nation, and the culture in Zimbabwe is being extended into sport.” line-up.
“However, we are all players and human beings, I quickly adapted and played my normal game,” said Hadebe speaking from his base in Malatya, Turkey.
Yen Malatyaspor, who are also competing in the Uefa Europa league, are on the road to Trabsonsqor this coming Sunday.
While Zifa might have ‘disbanded’ the Warriors after a disastrous Total Caf Africa Cup of Nations finals in Egypt, new Warriors’ coach Joey Antipas is almost certainly not going to leave the former Highlanders and Bantu Rovers defender when he calls up his squad for the upcoming Fifa 2022 World Cup preliminary round qualifier against Somalia early next month.
There have been many more attempts by Zimbabwe’s cricketers to organise themselves. Between Bredenkamp and Zvimba came Colin Blythe-Wood, Clive Field and Blessing Mahwire. They have even sought help from the South African Cricketers Association in their efforts over the years. In June last year, there was yet another attempt to form a union, with Brendan Taylor spurring calls for change and mooting Gerald Mlotshwa, current chairman of the SRC, as a potential representative.
Tatenda Taibu, Zimbabwe’s first black captain and a firm believer in the need for players to organise, spoke out about ZC’s treatment of Taylor at the time. Taibu calls the nullifying of such player movements “the main element of the old divide and rule tactic”.
“I also think that part of the problem is that: either not enough players are educated enough to understand certain things or don’t have exposure to know how things are done within an organisation,” Taibu tells ESPNcricinfo.
“Definitely, a strong players’ union is needed and will sort out these problems.”
Olonga agrees that an active players’ union is necessary.
“If we survive this, we still have a mountain to climb in changing the culture. To retain players and value players, and put that all together to turn us into a winning combination. It’s hard enough to win matches at the best of times. To make yourself a competitive team, you need all your ducks lined up in a row. I don’t know how they’re going to deal with it. They need a vibrant players’ body,” Olonga said. — ESPNcricinfo A Fina swimming coaching clinic will be held at a local hotel from tomorrow up to August 26.
Fina is the international federation that administers water sports.
The course is designed to meet the needs of national federations that have active coaches requiring more in-depth training and also prepares coaches for coaching duties in swimming.
“Preparations have been good so far. So far we have 27 participants who are still completing the online course and will be able to attend,” said organising chairman Tracey Doorman.
The online course began on July 1 and participants are schooled on coaching behaviours and philosophy, coach’s role and responsibilities, risk management, anti-doping, session planning, lifestyle management, planning and periodisation and physiological aspects.
The purpose of this programme is for all swimming coaches around the world to be acknowledged as certified swimming coaches and to offer recognition for the work they have accomplished.
“We strongly believe that the Fina Coaches Certification Programme will powerfully contribute to the improvement of our sport,” read a Fina memorandum. THE inaugural Zifa Bulawayo Province Cup got underway last weekend with 16 teams progressing to the next round of the competition.
The Bulawayo Province Cup is a competition for Division Two and Division Three teams.
Zifa Bulawayo Province acting chairman Allan Mpofu said he was pleased that the tournament had kicked-off on a high note.
“We are happy with how the tournament started. The draw for the last 16 will take place at lunch time today,” said Mpofu.
Mpofu said after realising there will be surplus from funds raised from registration fees, they decided to introduce a knock-out tournament.
The winner is set to walk away with $2 500, while the first runner-up will bag $1 000 and second runner-up ($500).
Next Level Sports chipped in with $500 to make the first prize $2 500 after the province had budgeted $2 000 for the winners, while Body Works Gym committed to sponsor the Top Goal Scorer and Player of the Tournament’s individual prizes.
“We hope to make the tournament bigger next year, as we have started engaging corporate partners to partner us,” said Mpofu.