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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
AFTER surviving relegation from the Zifa Southern Region Division One League in 2019, Victoria Falls-based side Mosi Rovers FC is embarking on an ambitious plan of bringing Premier Soccer League football to the resort town using only homegrown players.

Rovers had recruited experienced players that had won the First Division for the 2020 season that was voided by the Covid-19 pandemic.

They had convinced Try Ncube, who had won the Division One championship with Bulawayo City in 2019, to join them and lured defensive midfielder Thabani Goredema, winger Physwell Madhazi, attacking midfielder Christopher Samakweri and striker Darryl Nyandoro, who had spearheaded City to the title, anchorman Takunda Muzuva, a 2017 championship winner with Bulawayo Chiefs, as well as former Bantu Rovers striker McCarthy Dube.

Goalkeeper Wellington Muuya had also joined them on loan from Highlanders.

Their dream of challenging for a Premiership ticket fell apart when all sporting activities were banned as part of a nationwide lockdown before the Division One started last year, and they lost coach Ncube to rivals FC Talen Vision.

Rovers’ chief executive officer Brian Moyo said they had reviewed their goals and shelved plans to gun for the Division One title when the season starts.

“To be honest, Covid-19 has undone that ambition of immediate promotion. There’s an adage which says ‘in every dark cloud, there’s a silver lining’, and I would like to believe that the silver lining in Covid-19 gave us an opportunity to review the practicability of pushing for PSL promotion. Please get me right, the desire to be promoted is there, but we don’t want a situation whereby we get promoted and we’re forced to play our games away from home like what happened to Triple B, Underhill, Tsholotsho FC and ZPC Kariba,” said Moyo.

“Right now, we’re working hard during Covid-19 to impress on stakeholders and partners for the need to upgrade the present facilities to meet PSL requirements. I’m aware that the local authority has pegged a new site (to build a new stadium) in Mkhosana suburb, which I think is going to find corporate partners. In a nutshell, promotion is not a mission aborted, but a mission delayed and relaunched looking at certain other things around to ensure that when the PSL comes to Victoria Falls, the city is ready,” he said.

Moyo is aware that the stadium issue is beyond the club’s control and says they have engaged the Victoria Falls City Council to give Chinotimba Stadium a facelift.

The club has also engaged the corporate world to assist in building of dressing rooms and irrigating Chinotimba Stadium so that it meets required standards to stage First Division matches.

Rovers are also working on setting up club structures and ensuring that they have a vibrant junior development system that will be a feeder to the first team, and has therefore decided to let go of players from outside Victoria Falls and focus on home grown talent.

“It’s not that we are closing out footballers from outside Victoria Falls, but looking at the present environment, it only makes sense to refocus and use home grown talent. The other thing is that we don’t want to burden ourselves by getting into complicated contracts, hence the decision to slowly develop local talent. The other thing is that we can’t go overboard and bring in experienced players when there’s no guarantee of playing football due to Covid-19,” said Moyo. — @ZililoR