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Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter

WOMEN’S football side Lobengula City Queens is on an expansion drive which has seen them approach Somvubu High School in Bubi district for an arrangement that will see the school feed players into the Queens side.

Lobengula City Queens play their football in the Zifa Women’s Southern Region Division One League where they took part in last season and finished in position sixth.

Somvubu High School girls football team

Somvubu High School’s girls team coach Affection Siphali said: “We are excited at the prospect of working with Lobengula City Queens. We have loads of talented girls here who lack exposure. If we are to have some of these players playing in Bulawayo, their chances of making a name for themselves out there are even bigger.”

Lobengula City Queens founder and director Sibekiwe Ndlovu said she came up with the idea to partner with the high school last year.

“I approached the Somvubu High School sports director last year where we discussed coming up with a girl’s football team in lnyathi to partner with Lobengula City Queens. My suggestion was that we can have two teams, one made up of school-going girls that will represent the school in school competitions and the other with school leavers and mixed with school-going so that those who leave school can still continue with them on our other team. They showed interest and we are trying to come up with that arrangement,” said Ndlovu.

Somvubu High School girls football team

She feels that loads of talent is being left idle in the rural communities.

“Lots of talent is lost in rural areas because of lack of exposure and encouragement as well as motivation. I am impressed by the response of the girls at lnyathi, they are raring to go and looking forward to playing competitive football,” said Ndlovu.

Through the Majinkila Hope foundation and KiTAid, a kit was donated to the Somvubu girls football team at the weekend.

The donation also included soccer balls. Other clubs that benefited from the benevolence of Majinkila Hope Foundation and KiTAid are Lobengula City Queens, Street Set, eFusini, Real Stars Academy, Entumbane, Tigers, Pumula, Lobengula Rovers, Mthala, Kalika, Mkwabeni Secondary School in Insiza district and LSDA academy. As far as Bulawayo women’s football is concerned, Ndlovu is confident the metropolitan province can reclaim its status as the home of women’s football in Zimbabwe and crucially have regular national team players from the league. At the turn of the millennium, Bulawayo was the hub of women’s football, producing an array of players who went on to play for the Mighty Warriors where they would produce top-class performances in front of nearly packed stadia.

The Mighty Warriors line-up was almost predictable in those old days and justifiably so as the City of Kings and Queens kept producing stars of repute, all through a common good for the game.

The likes of Nomsa “Boyz” Moyo, Precious “Gringo” Mpala, Pretty Phiri, Ruth Banda, Sithethelelwe “Kwinji 15” Sibanda and Rosemary Mugadza are still household names up to this day. Fast forward a little bit and you will have the likes of Rudo Neshamba, Nobuhle Majika, Nokuthula “Maroe” Ndlovu and Sicelo Dube, among others. — @innocentskizoe