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COULD the southern part of the country be taking over the throne in sport and its administration?

Cricket, rugby and soccer’s top brass are all based in Bulawayo, but does this mark a shift in the balance of sport in the country?

The Premier Soccer League’s top two officials, chairman Peter Dube and chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele, are stationed in Bulawayo, but are they responsible for evidence on the ground pointing to a shift in the balance of power in the PSL?

Chicken Inn finally broke Dynamos’ stranglehold in the league after a record equalling four consecutive titles in 2015.

This season, teams from the south have again shown their intent of keeping the league title away from the north by their good starts. The good news is that the south possesses a few teams that are capable of winning the Castle Lager PSL title if certain things fall into place.

FC Platinum have a 100 percent record in the PSL after four matches, while How Mine and champions Chicken Inn also pose a legitimate threat despite the presence of Caps United in second place. Even Bulawayo giants Highlanders are under pressure to rebound from a tumultuous 2015 and challenge for the title, especially after bringing in a new coach from the Netherlands.

But can the southern teams’ rise be attributed to the emergence of administrators from the region or vice versa? To some this could probably be a chicken and egg question, but what is evident is that administrators from the south are slowly clawing their way up to top administrative posts in the country’s biggest sports, football, cricket and rugby as well as other so called minor sports.

Zifa vice-president Omega Sibanda, Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Tavengwa Mukuhlani, and recently elected Zimbabwe Rugby Union president Nyararayi Sibanda are from Bulawayo. While teams from the south have shown a legitimate threat to shake up the balance of power in the PSL, can the same be said about cricket, rugby and other sports teams, as well as the above-mentioned administrators?
Ndebele has done a great job since arriving at the PSL and the league has run smoothly since he took over as head of the secretariat.

There have been no clashes between club and country as he has ensured PSL fixtures accommodated all national teams’ assignments.
Nyararayi Sibanda is less than a week into his new job and it would be unfair to weigh him at this stage, but he has a mammoth task ahead of him. Rugby is extinct in this part of the country and we wish him luck in reviving the game, which has dropped close to the bottom of the schools’ sports ladder from the high prestige it was previously held in. We, however, commend him for his bravery in contesting to head a “dead” sport in more than three quarters of the  country.

Mukuhlani at ZC has already told us that “resources determine the choice of venue” so we can safely assume that international cricket will not come to Bulawayo in the near future. New Zealand, Sri Lanka for West Indies are all touring Zimbabwe before the end of this year, but their visits may as well start and end at the Harare Sports Club, as India’s next month.

What Mukuhlani has not told us is what is being done to ensure “resources determine Queens Sports Club as a venue” of any future tours.

Although there is no doubt that the national balance of sport admin power has slightly shifted southwards, how sustainable this is remains to be seen.