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Blessing Chiutare

HARARE Sports Club has run out of patience with the Zimbabwe Rugby Union over the use of their field by national teams following last Saturday’s debacle during the Sables’ international friendly against Zambia.

In correspondence sent to ZRU on Monday, HSC rugby section chairman Tinashe Shamu made it clear that their tolerance had been stretched to the limit by ZRU, having used all available channels to resolve outstanding issues without success.

“As Harare Sports Club rugby section, we believe we have exhausted our patience with the Zimbabwe Rugby Union using our facilities whilst matters concerning our field have been left unresolved, namely our boundary fence and the return of the scrummage machine.

“We have concluded that these issues are clearly not a priority for the union and we as Harare Sports Club have continued to offer our services for national teams, be it meetings or training whereby some were conducted without communication,” wrote Shamu.

What seems to have angered the HSC rugby section leadership were events of Saturday when the Sables took on Zambia in an international friendly.

HSC state that they tried to ensure floodlights and the playing field were ready and contact was made with ZRU chief executive officer Blessing Chiutare informing him that the owners would take care of the playing field and the bar, while the union took care of the rest.

However, ZRU failed to play its part as there were no technical zones, national anthems were not sung and the two countries’ flags were not raised. HSC also claimed ZRU abandoned the Zambian officials and this tainted the reputation of HSC.

“As a result, parking was poorly managed, technical zones non-existent, no national anthems were sung or flags put up during games. A few hours before the game, we were asked for white shorts for the ladies, we were asked for match balls before kick-off of the first game and to heighten this poor organisation, our committee members hosted the Zambian management staff, who felt abandoned after the game.

“After an hour of trying, HSC committee members helped them get their bus out of Harare Sports Club without anyone from the union around. All these have only led to our reputation being tarnished by all who attended the game as Harare Sports Club,” Shamu complained.

HSC said they would not hesitate to inform the public that it was ZRU’s poor organisational skills that led to the problems during the weekend’s friendly matches.

“As mentioned, our patience is exhausted and with how this weekend transpired, we are left with no option. We will no longer be in a position to open our facilities freely for all national teams, whatever age group, for training on our field or meetings on our facility. For use of our training facilities, a non-negotiable fee of $50 an hour (excluding lights) should be paid in advance if you require our facilities.

However, if the union does restore fence and scrummage machine, we will be open to discussing the opportunity of national teams using our facilities at better rates.”

ZRU refused to speak on the matters raised by HSC, but thanked the club for hosting the Zimbabwe and Zambia matches at short notice.

In a statement in response, ZRU committed themselves to mending bridges with all role players in the game.

“The Zimbabwe Rugby Union will not comment on the specific issues raised by Harare Sports Club. We will, however, engage HSC as an esteemed stakeholder. We will take this opportunity to thank Harare Sports Club for hosting the Zimbabwe versus Zambia matches, albeit at short notice. As a union, we are in the process of building bridges with all stakeholders as we seek to be financially  stable and consistently churn out exciting rugby to the fans,” said ZRU.

It appears HSC is angry with ZRU over unfulfilled promises the rugby mother body had undertaken, such as building a grandstand, renovating changing rooms, fixing benches and sitting area by the scoreboard, and fencing the field.  These were all assurances given to HSC for hosting last year’s World Rugby Under-20 Trophy in May.

Former Sables’ committee chairperson Bongai Zamchiya took to social media networking site Facebook to express his disgust about what transpired at HSC on Saturday.

“Well done to Sables and (the) ladies. Good rugby. However, let’s call a spade a spade. The field wasn’t marked; there were no technical zones, no proper referees’ table, no national anthems and no traffic control. Then the Zambian men slept on the floor at The Courtney Hotel. They had to shower in the ladies’ rooms. Better to have cancelled than embarrass ourselves in this manner,” posted Zamchiya.

Images of the Sables holding training sessions using car lights at Prince Edward School were circulating on social media ahead of the match. Despite the entire circus surrounding their preparations, the Sables went on to beat Zambia 64-3 in a match they used as preparations for the Rugby Africa Gold Cup, which starts at the end of the month. – Sportszone.co.zw