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Ngqabutho Moyo Sports Reporter
MATABELELAND Rugby Football Board will be honouring the late Vice President, Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo popularly known as Father Zimbabwe, with a rugby tournament set for Hartsfield Rugby Sports Club this weekend.The tournament will attract 16 schools in the  boys’ category and they will compete in the Under-17 age group. The girls category has attracted six  schools.

The event is meant to celebrate the life of Dr Nkomo, a political icon who contributed immensely to the armed struggle and development of Zimbabwe after Independence.

The participants will march from Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo statue to Hartsfield where there will be an opening ceremony before the first matches kick off.

Schools expected to provide boys’ teams at the event are Sikhulile, Njube, Emakhandeni, Nkulumane, Msitheli, Northlea, Sobukhazi, St Columbas, Milton, St Bernard’s, Amhlophe, Mzilikazi, Nkulumane, Hamilton, Ihlathi and Luveve.

Northlea, Sobukhazi, Amhlophe, Nkulumane, St Bernard’s and Msitheli will provide girls’ teams which will battle it out in the two-day event.

The second day will see the teams clash in the semi-finals and final match, in which rugby enthusiasts will be afforded a chance to watch a National Rugby League match pitting city rivals Old Miltonians and Western Panthers.

Senior provincial development officer and renowned local rugby coach George Mukorera, one of those behind the tournament, said the proceeds from the gate takings will benefit the Matabeleland Rugby Coaches Association, Matabeleland Rugby Football Board as well as the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo National Foundation.

Mukorera said the aim of the tournament was to promote Nkomo’s legacy through sport, and also to prove that rugby was not an elite sport but a sport for the masses, hence the participation of schools from the high density suburbs.

Mukorera said winners in both the boys and girls’ categories would walk away with a brand new kit while the best players in each category would have their school fees paid for one term.

The initial plan for the tournament was to invite one guest team which is not from the province but however plans changed along the way.

Mukorera said that the rugby board was  eager to make the tournament an annual event  that will in future attract schools from outside Bulawayo.