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Ndumiso Gumede

Ricky Zililo Senior Sports Reporter
HIGHLANDERS have lined up a series of events to celebrate the club’s 90 years of existence in 2016, with plans to play a friendly match against South African giants Orlando Pirates or Kaizer Chiefs.

They are the oldest football club in Zimbabwe having been established in 1926.

Highlanders’ chief executive officer Ndumiso Gumede said the club’s South African-based members are hoping to use their links to convince either Pirates or Chiefs to be part of the celebrations that will run throughout the year.

The friendly will be played at Bulawayo’s ceremonial home of soccer, Barbourfields Stadium.

“A marketing committee headed by board member Luke Mnkandla has already hit the ground running to ensure that we’ve memorable 90th anniversary celebrations.

“We want to come up with more than just football celebrations that’ll run throughout the year. As it is, we’re busy trying to find a team to play against sometime in August. Our friends in South Africa have said they’ll pull some strings and convince either Pirates or Chiefs to be part of our historic celebrations,” said Gumede.

Pirates and Chiefs command a huge following in Bulawayo, but it is the former that the Bosso fans would like to watch at Barbourfields Stadium, maybe because they share the same colours, black and white.

Besides the football match set for August, Gumede said they had also engaged renowned playwright Cont Mhlanga to do a production for the club.

“We want to have wider and more than football celebrations. As it is, we’ve already roped in Cont and Amakhosi to come up with something for the commemorations. These celebrations have lots of components, which include historical aspects and that of legends. This is why we’ll have them running for a year instead of being a day’s event,” Gumede said.

Bosso chairman Peter Dube said they will also exhibit at the 2016 Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF).

“This is a remarkable achievement for which we’re so proud and plans are underway to celebrate this milestone throughout the year. To mark the occasion, we’ll also be exhibiting at the 2016 edition of the ZITF and we hope our stand will be popular,” said Dube.

Highlanders’ followers will be happier if the team also manages to win the league title after a 10-year wait.

Happy days are what the supporters are hoping for and after watching Bosso finishing the 2015 season strongly by winning the NetOne sponsored top eight Easycall Cup, fans will be hoping the team continues from where it left off.

On their way to lifting the cup, Highlanders beat the top three teams starting with FC Platinum followed by a sweet semi-final victory over bitter rivals Dynamos before edging league champions Chicken Inn 1-0 in the final.