The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
OLD Miltonians chairman, Martin Shone, has set his sights on becoming the substantive Zimbabwe Rugby Union vice president for the South.
ZRU will hold an elective annual general meeting at Prince Edward School in Harare on Saturday where a substantive leadership will be voted for to complete the remainder of the four year term for the Nyararai Sibanda led management. Sibanda’s committee was suspended by the Sports and Recreation Commission in August before a vote of no confidence was passed on it at the beginning of this month.
Russell Karimazondo has been in charge of an interim committee with Dave Nash and Tungamirai Mashungu his deputies while Aaron Jani is the treasurer.
Shone, who is also the Bulawayo Metropolitan Rugby Football Board’s board member in charge of development and training said he accepted the nomination because of his love for rugby.
“I love rugby, I have been in administration and I felt I could do more if I was up in the union, for the province and for the country as well because we are looking national. The guys that were there they did a good job but I still feel there is areas that can be improved,’’ he said.
On Nash, Shone said that he did not come from the South and as such they do not know where he came from. Nash confirmed last Thursday that he is standing for VP South post.
“He didn’t come from us, we didn’t send him there, I don’t know who handpicked him, and if they say he is representing the South I am not sure which South they are talking about, definitely not this South. We don’t know him in the rugby structures here, he is not in the structures, neither have we seen him assisting any club or any association in the South,’’ Shone said of Nash.
Shone is confident of assuming the position of VP South come Saturday since he has been on the ground and was part of the Zimbabwe Sables versus Kenya local organising committee. What drives him the most is making a difference in the sport.
“I have been on the ground, making a difference and improving the game is what motivates me. When you have people that want positions because they want power it becomes a problem, they being there is for the power, it’s not for the sport, it’s for the title,’’ he said.
Shone is convinced that the SRC appointed commission of inquiry into ZRU was not properly constituted since it had former union president John Falkenberg being part of it when the chaos started during his time in office.
“The commission of inquiry that was set, I think it was not proper to have a former president sitting in that commission as the chairman of the inquiry, he is the past president. The rugby chaos did not start with the Nyararai Sibanda administration, this thing came from before which means the guy who is chairing the inquiry is part and parcel of the chaos so how do you have him investigate things in rugby when he should be investigated himself,’’ Shone said.
Jani indicated that he is contesting for the presidency, Karimazondo said he was still to make up his mind while former Sables’ team manager Losson Mtongwiza is going for the VP North position. Mtongwiza and Jani are heading to Bulawayo to canvass for votes.
Shone expressed his preparedness to work with whoever is chosen as president, provided that person is development oriented.
“ I will work together with whoever is elected president, trust me it’s about rugby and I hope the vision is also about rugby, spreading the game to all corners of the country and making sure that development starts from grassroots, revive the national teams from the Under-14 going upwards,’’ Shone said.
He waded in on plans to remove from his position, national sevens rugby team coach, Gilbert Nyamutsamba who last month led the Cheetahs to qualify for the 2018 Sevens Rugby World Cup to be staged in San Francisco, United States of America.
“The whole nation can see he is doing well so all you can do is probably to assist him in getting whatever qualifications you might want him to have instead of talking about replacing him.
“The guy has qualified with no resources, without any assistance from the corporate world or the union but he has qualified us for the World Cup but we reward him by saying he is not qualified,’’ Shone said.
Nominations for the ZRU elections close Tuesday with those seeking to be elected required to have been active in the sport’s administration for the past three years. -@Mdawini_29
