The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda Senior Sports Reporter
TSHOLOTSHO Football Club will officially launch their kit, unveil players as well as technical staff on Tuesday in a ceremony to be held at the Better Schools Programme Hall in Tsholotsho.
Club chairman Mlamuli Phiri said their intention was to have a similar function in Bulawayo the following day but have since shelved those plans since their maiden fixture in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League against Harare City at Rufaro Stadium has been moved to Friday because of the Young Warriors All Africa Games qualifier against Cameroon on Sunday.
Tsholotsho FC have been using a black and white stripe over the years but have since abandoned that kit since those are the home colours of Highlanders.
“We are launching our kit we will be using this season, we are also unveiling our 30 registered players and technical team. Our home kit is complete black and plain white, we also have red as our third kit. We will use the function to do some fund-raising for the trip to Harare, we want to try and come up with some money to help us along the way,’’ said Phiri.
During the function, fans have an opportunity to purchase the club’s replica shirts which will be sold for $20. Phiri mentioned that they were in the process of trying to find cheaper shirts that can be afforded by the rural community in which the club is based.
Central defender William Stima led Iziqholo Zezhwane last season and is highly expected to maintain his post this year.
The Lizwe Sweswe coached side has nine new players in their squad, the most notable signing being defensive midfielder Gerald Chakwara, snapped up from the Joel Luphahla run Dubai 7 Academy in Harare. Players with a previous experience in the PSL are Kudzanai Machazani formerly with Highlanders and MacClive Phiri who turned out for Quelaton.
Last week, they trained at Fairbridge in Bulawayo for three days before returning to their base in Tsholotsho.
Meanwhile, chairman of the Tsholotsho Stadium steering committee Sicelo Dube said they were now waiting for the Government engineers to return with the plans before construction work could resume on the facility.
Dube said the Tsholotsho community was keen to assist in whatever way towards the construction of the stadium.
“The people of Tsholotsho are eager to assist with whatever they have, be it cement, quarry stones and river sand for the construction of the stadium. At the moment we are waiting for the engineers to return with the plans before work can resume,’’ said Dube.
A visit to the site last Friday showed that there was no construction work being carried out at the moment on the home ground of Tsholotsho FC.
Last month, the Government took over the construction work of the Tsholotsho Stadium which when completed is going to be the first state of the art football facility in a rural area in Zimbabwe.
Dube said they have embarked on a fundraising spree with raffle tickets being sold for $2 at the moment with the draw going to be conducted on 1 April where a tractor, borehole and mobile phones are some of the prizes to be won by those who bought the tickets.
