The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
HARDWARE Chatora, the coach who led Rujeko to glory in last year’s Copa Coca-Cola national finals in Gwanda believes that they have once again been thrown into a tough group for this year’s competition.
Speaking after the draw was conducted at the Glendale school during the official launch, Chatora, whose side defeated Chihnoyi on penalties, expressed confidence that they will prevail come the national finals to be staged in their home province of Mashonaland Central. Rujeko were placed in group D where they will meet champions of Midlands and Masvingo.
“It’s really a tough group, like it was last year, we were in the same group with Midlands, Masvingo which featured schools like Pamushana as well as Guinea Fowl. I understand it’s a group of death as you can see these are powerhouses of soccer,’’ said Chatora.
With the amount of hard work that they have put in since they were crowned champions last year’s boys’ champions which has seen them join the Mashonaland Central Junior League, the trophy looks certain to remain at Rujeko. On top of that, Chatora is convinced that they have managed to put together even a stronger squad than they have last year.
“I believe with a lot of effort that we have invested in since last year, we have joined the junior league of Mash Central and we have got very young players whom I feel have great potential in delivering the goods. I think as for this year, we have assembled a much even stronger group than ever where we have got the likes of Tatenda Jamu who were chosen among the best last year. I think we are going to work tooth and nail in order to retain the trophy,’’ Chatora said.
On the changes to the age group, with Copa Coca-Cola now for boys and girls who are supposed to be under the age of 15 throughout 2017 with the cut-off date being 1 January 2003, Chatora said that will not affect his team at all since they had already prepared for that eventuality.
“We don’t have any problems with the age group change. I think we were already prepared for that because we have got a much younger age group that were playing in the junior league. I think this is not going to affect us a lot. I am really confident because we have trained a lot and we have got very young players whom I believe are going to deliver the goods,’’ he said.
With Rujeko guaranteed a place in the national finals, they will still play in the qualifiers so as to measure their strength.
Chatora also disclosed that they have plans to invite a school from Harare for a friendly match.
“We are going to play in the qualifiers, we are going to start it as a new tournament regardless that we are the champions. We need those preparatory games for the national finals. We would like to invite even one of the teams from Harare so that we may have a friendly match against them,’’ Chatora said.
Because of the success of Rujeko last year and the fact that they are the host province for the national finals, Mashonaland Central will have three boys’ teams in the nationwide event which runs from 20 to 23 July. Chipindura are the host school for the boys while Hermann Gmeiner will enjoy home advantage in the girls.
Changes to the tournament age groups will see those aged Under-15 for the whole of 2017 competing in this year’s Copa Coca-Cola. Prior to that modification, boys Under-16 and girls Under-17 took part in the competition which started as an Under-20 event in 1989 for boys and in 2011 for females. The further amendment came about because of the sponsors’ desire to bankroll an age group which is recognised by Fifa.
Speaking at the official launch, Moses Gambiza, the Delta Beverages general manager sparkling beverages general manager said as the Coca-Cola system in Zimbabwe, they will maintain their sponsorship of the country’s most prestigious and longest running school football tournament. He said the competition has given them as sponsors a sense of pride over the years and they anticipate that this year’s tournament will further the careers of the participants.
“As you would know by now, this is Zimbabwe’s most prestigious and longest running soccer tournament, now in its 29th edition for the boys and seventh edition for the girls. We intend to continue sponsoring this event. This National Association of Secondary Heads (Nash)-organised football tournament has made a mark in the lives of thousands of secondary schools pupils, their families and communities throughout Zimbabwe over the years,’’ said Gambiza.
Nash president, Johnson Madhuku said they were grateful to the sponsors for sticking with them during tough economic times in the country. He challenged those he works with to put in place mechanisms to keep an eye on the progress made by players who have come through Copa Coca-Cola.
“We are indebted to our sponsors for sticking with us during such difficult times. We are very much aware and cognisant of the fact that this is a massive, huge sponsorship package indeed that runs from cluster level up to national for all our schools in the country. Some of our star players are also taken abroad for further skills training, exposure and development and as Nash, I urge my colleagues to ensure that we have a database of such players and a tracking system to monitor the fruits of such sterling work by our sponsors,’’ said Madhuku.
Lloyd Mudiwa, the Mashonaland East Provincial Education Director, who was the guest of honour, expressed his happiness at the fact that Rujeko managed to win the tournament last year after they finished as runners up in 2015. Mudiwa said his province is the most excellent in ball games as shown by the number of national titles held by schools from Mashonaland Central.
“The other nine provinces you can excel in other areas like athletics but when it comes to ball games, we are the cream of the nation. From Copa Coca-Cola, great soccer players have emerged, I am referring to the likes of Peter Ndlovu, Biggie Zuze and the late Benjamin Nkonjera. To date many soccer players are earning a living because of soccer,’’ said Mudiwa. Former footballers, Biggie Zuze, Costa Maradzike as well as Kingstone Rinemota who hail from Mashonaland Central and have all turned to coaching after retiring from the game graced the official launch. Wednesday’s official launch was also graced by Chief Negomo, Member of Parliament for Mazowe South, Fortune Chasi, Nash national as well as provincial leadership, representatives of the sponsors, Coca-Cola, the beverage company’s bottling partners in Zimbabwe, Delta Beverages and Mutare Bottling Company.
The commencement paves the way for the zonal competitions that were played last Friday, district finals to be staged on Friday. The provincial tournaments will take place all over the country on 7 July where teams to represent their respective provinces will get to be known.
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