WITH elections done and dusted, it’s time to roll up sleeves to get Zimbabwean rugby where a great many believe it belongs, at the pinnacle of the game in Africa.
ENOCK MUCHINJO
Meeting demands of every interest in the game is no mean feat to pull off for new Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) president Losson Mtongwiza, given how rugby continues to expand in playing numbers across the country.
But the new executives at the ZRU headquarters will feel like a weight being lifted off their shoulders – when it comes to the senior men’s nation team – which will enjoy the support of a diversely-assembled and passionate committee recently appointed to assist the Sables reach their full potential.
“If a Zimbabwean athlete wins or does well, the entire country’s hearts swell with pride and this, I suppose, is the motivator for me in putting my time and energy into sports and particularly now the Sables,” Lindsay Earle (pictured), the highly-driven chairperson of the Sables Trust, told The NewsHawks this week.
“I’m a fiercely proud Zimbabwean. Nothing makes me happier than seeing the flag held high in victory, or the pursuit of it.”
The Sables – under their youthful new head coach Piet Benade – will soon buckle down and begin preparations for July’s enormously important Africa Cup in Uganda. Zimbabwe must play some of their best rugby in years because only the top four out of the eight-nation competition in Kampala will remain in contention for next year’s final phase of World Cup qualifiers.
Not an easy task, when you take a closer look at the other seven nations in the tournament: Uganda, Kenya, Namibia, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Senegal and Burkina Faso.
These are all decent Test teams that have vastly improved over the years, in their own different ways.
Harare-based entrepreneur Earle is determined, nonetheless, to help the Sables stay alive in Africa this year for a chance to launch a spirited World Cup qualification campaign in 2025. Leaving Kampala as champions of Africa at the end of July will be the cherry on top.
“The Sables Trust has been populated with a pretty diverse group of people, which like any team that is pulling in the same direction, gives us hope and the greatest chance of succeeding,” she remarked.
“Luckily, I find myself surrounded by experts in the field of rugby – in the union, the coaching team and in the trust. This allows me to focus on the part I have to play, without interfering in areas where my knowledge is limited to being a grandstand expert. My hope for the future is that the Sables get the support they need from all of us that are working tirelessly behind the scenes. And also the support from the fans in the country, for whom the Sables are giving their all to bring national pride, not just in Uganda and the Africa Cup in July but continuously.”
Medical doctor and former Sables star Tapfuma Parirenyatwa stays on as one of the trust’s stalwarts despite a new added role following his election last week as one of ZRU’s two vice-presidents. Experienced administrator Ed Gumbo, a schoolboy rugby and cricket sensation at Plumtree back in the days, is also on the committee. The others are enterprising sports agent and former Sables team manager Kisset Chirengende as well as top lawyer Leigh Howes.
“It’s a great honour to have been given the role of chairing the Sables Trust. Following in the footsteps of the likes of Gerald Mlotshwa and Colleen de Jong is no small task,” Earle commented.
“The trust has an interesting mandate, which is more administrative than it is visionary. The role of the trust is to support the vision of the ZRU and the technical team, to engage with sponsors and donors and be the interface between the two. As far as possible, gathering the financial and practical resources to enable the union reach its goals for the Sables – both immediate and long-term – while endeavouring to give as much benefit to the corporates and individuals that have so generously supported rugby.”
Rugby isn’t bubbly Lindsay’s only sporting pastime. She is also a renowned boxing promoter in Zimbabwe. Yet she is modest about her own sporting abilities.
“I was singularly without talent in any sport at all!” she chuckled.
“But like a great many other people, this hasn’t stopped me from being an incredibly passionate supporter of not just rugby, but sport generally. I do remember looking out of the classroom window at Highlands Junior School, watching the practice and thinking that rugby was entirely different to anything else! I saw that there was a place in a team for every kind of person: big, small, fast, slow, strong. That first view of the game has never left me. I still think it’s the most inclusive of team sports. The benefit in playing rugby, from childhood, is being able to learn to respect people who have entirely different attributes to you, without which the team as a whole cannot succeed.”
