Zimpapers Logo

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
HARTSFIELD Rugby Ground is again on the verge of total dereliction due to prolonged lack of maintenance.

Administrative apathy by the Bulawayo Metropolitan Rugby Football Board (BMRFB) seems to be at the centre of Hartsfield’s dilapidated condition, as the venue, which used to be the best rugby ground in Zimbabwe, has been virtually neglected since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country.

Two years ago, BMRFB officials cited the breakdown of a pump for their failure to water the turf.

The officials are now blaming incessant rains, a poor drainage system and lack of funding for the overgrown grass in the main ground and general state of neglect of the facility.

The Hartsfield outfield resembles a bush, with no indication that the field is an iconic rugby ground.

Chronicle Sport caught up with BMRFB chairman Craig Change to find out why they have left the venue to deteriorate to current appalling levels.

Change blamed heavy rains and poor drainage, and said his board couldn’t do much due to lack of corporate funding.

Battle to control Hartsfield has always been at the centre of a tiff between the Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) and BMRFB, with relations taking a strain in 2018 when the latter turned down a deal for a Hartsfield takeover.

BMRFB refused to sign a deal with Titan Law, which reportedly wanted to renovate Hartsfield into a top-class facility that included building a hotel to accommodate international teams.

Change defended his board’s decision to reject the approach, saying it was tantamount to BMRFB selling its birth right for a few pieces of silver.

Below is a question-and-answer session Chronicle Sport (CS) had with Change (CC) on Hartsfield.

CS: Why have you left Hartsfield to deteriorate to such levels with no maintenance at all?

CC: The idea was that we use a tractor to cut the grass then maintain the turf using lawnmowers. Unfortunately, the period of continued rainfall whereby it’s raining everyday affected that move because when the grass grows and reaches a certain height, it becomes impossible to cut using a lawnmower. At the same time the tractor guy said as long as it was this wet, he can’t use his tractor as it would destroy the lawn. We have a poor drainage system which needs to be fixed at a cost obviously, but as a board we do not have the money needed for that project.

CS: How much is needed to work on the drainage system?

CC: We got three quotations, the cheapest was US$9 900 and this service provider was not going to do everything because he was also cutting costs. The highest was US$21 000 and this one wanted to do a complete job, bring an excavator, remove the top part of the soil up to the hardcore area and then fill that part up with river sand which allows proper water drainage. That was a costly process for us and remember, river sand costs about US$75 per load and imagine how many loads would have been needed.

As a board we couldn’t afford that project because we don’t have a sponsor or a partner. It’s clear that Hartsfield grounds lack resources and as BMRFB, we don’t have the funds. Remember we are a non-profit making board, we have tried here and there to have income-generating projects, but the figures raised do not justify a decision to dig up the fields. And digging up the fields has its own implications such as having games stopping for some time.

The timing of digging up the fields is also critical; it has to be just before the onset of the rains because a new lawn needs excessive watering and all those were taken into consideration.

CS: If you know you don’t have funds to maintain Hartsfield, why then did you refuse an offer from Zimbabwe Rugby Union to take over running of the venue?

CC: You cannot sell your birthright simply because you want money. Secondly the so-called feud between us and ZRU was just a sympathy seeking gimmick so that the public would sympathise with those that said all sorts of things. There was no truth in all that because if there was any and since they’re the custodians of the game nationally, ZRU would have still taken it upon themselves to come and help us, but the fact that they didn’t, people should be able to read between the lines.

Surely if they wanted the game to prosper in Bulawayo, they would have said fine, if we can’t take this thing, we still want it to prosper. They would have come up with an initiative to say let’s work together, but the fact that nothing of that sort happened should surely show you that the motive or intention was not honest.

So, on our side we cannot just sell our birthright simply because someone has dangled a carrot to us and says I have this money so allow me to do this. That is not how it works. We are open and remain open to people who come to us as partners, not wanting to take over control of our birthright.

Our objective is not to seek personal glory, but to leave a legacy for future generations that this is what we have left them; that is all that we want.

CS: So when will we see work being done at Hartsfield?

CC: We had already started working on that before rains disturbed us. We targeted those areas that were being badly affected by water logging. That process is not stopping.