The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
THE second tier Division One League is expected to be a window into the top flight Premiership but a recent post on social media of pictures of a match between Binga United and Bulawayo City has left many fans wondering if there are any standards for the lower league’s grounds.
The pictures on the Bulawayo City Facebook page are of their Southern Region Division One clash last Saturday in Binga at Binga High School attracted questions on how the game will improve with such poor infrastructure.
The ground is sandy with lots of sprouting trees and grass across the field. Commenting on the post, Prince Roland Moyo-Phakathi questioned how the ground was approved for use in the country’s second tier and Alvin Leeye Nyathi asked if it’s a field for crops or football ground.
Local businessman Larry Gwati said having been to most areas in Binga, he felt that is the best pitch in the area.
“I know Binga very well, most areas are sandy and I think this is the best pitch they have. I once played at a place called Sinamusanga, I changed from soccer boots to takkies until I ended up playing barefooted and had serious blisters,” he wrote.
Journalist Simba Jemwa called the decision to approve such a ground for Division One matches a joke.
“Is that a Division One ground? And Zifa Southern Region approved a ground like this? Let me get this straight: Zifa Southern Region and Zifa at large expect this and other similar leagues to develop World Class footballers at match venues like this? I guess I was wrong in my estimation that Div One football is a professional league set-up! And I know what Zifa would say if I asked them this question! They will say to me, there are no funds for football infrastructure development, and I say you can’t get any if you package professional football like this! This is a joke!” he wrote.
Southern Region chairman, Andrew Tapela said while they are not responsible for approving stadium for use by teams, they only ensure recommendations are met.
“We work with the referees’ committee to inspect stadiums and if they raise concerns we make sure the affected team attends to them before they are allowed to host matches. This is the first time Binga is coming into the league and as part of efforts to spread the game to all areas under our jurisdiction we saw it prudent to accommodate them,” he said.
Dennis Tshuma, who led the Zifa Inspection Committee at the ground, said they had to reject the first ground presented by the club and opted for the second one although they recommended that it be watered on Thursdays towards home games to make it firmer as it was too sandy.
“We made recommendations and we hope they are following them to the letter but in all other aspects the ground is not really different from the ones used by Mainline, Indlovu Iyanyathela or Casmyn. We are struggling with infrastructure and for a team in Binga there is really no alternative. We believe the game should be spread to all areas and hopefully the grounds will improve as we go on,” he said.
Zifa communications and competitions manager Xolisani Gwesela was last week quoted lamenting the poor state of football infrastructure in the country.
“Our biggest problem in Zimbabwe is infrastructure. We are lagging behind compared to other African nations. All our stadiums are in bad shape and they need to be attended to urgently and renovated.
“Most of them were built in the 1950s and 1960s and we are still using the same infrastructure. This is unacceptable in the 21st century.
“Just across the Zambezi River in Zambia, there is commendable infrastructure development and we have seen (them) building big top-class stadiums which meet international standards. Stadium owners need to move with speed and invest in the renovation of these stadiums. We want to see most of our stadiums homologated by Caf to host matches for the Caf inter-club competitions,’’ Gwesela was quoted saying.
