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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) says it will revive the National Rugby League (NRL) that prematurely ended in 2014.

ZRU was forced to suspend the NRL with six rounds of games left in 2014 after clubs failed to secure financial resources to fufil away matches following the withdrawal of the league’s main sponsors Delta Beverages.

Newly elected ZRU vice-president Noddy Kanyangarara, who was the NRL chairman when the clubs’ competition came to an abrupt end, said the topflight league would resume next year.

“The NRL will start next year. The timing of ZRU elections were a little bad in the sense that companies are already halfway into their 2016 budgets and they can’t alter their budgets for us. The previous board never budgeted for the NRL, but we will make proposals to take to companies for sponsorship,” Kanyangarara said.

He said the return of the NRL would enhance competition among clubs and also produce quality players for national teams.
Kanyangarara said national teams were performing dismally due to the absence of a national league.

“If you look at how the national teams performed during the days when we had the NRL and now, you can see that there is a big difference. Playing rugby only in regions doesn’t create growth in terms of player development. By reviving the NRL, you create a platform for second tier teams to aspire to play in the topflight and those in the premier league will work harder to ensure they’re not relegated. This then produces a highly competitive pool of players to select national teams from.

“Rugby has taken big strides backwards and we’re saying through the re-introduction of the NRL, our players have something to play for.

Even those at school will aspire to play for teams that compete in the NRL,” Kanyangarara said.

The present set up has two leagues; the Northern League, which is thriving, and Southern League that has been struggling to get off the mark due to lack of funding.

The Northern Region League is made up of teams from Harare, Manicaland, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West and Mashonaland Central provinces, while clubs from Bulawayo, Midlands, Masvingo, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South compete in the Southern Region League.

Club rivalry is no longer at the same scale as in yesteryears and coaches use history rather than merit to call up players into national teams.

Kanyangarara said they would soon hold a mini-tournament in which top teams from the Northern and Southern regions will compete for the right to represent the country at the Gold Cup set for South Africa later this year as part of the ZRU’s move to kick-start the NRL.