The Bulawayo Basketball Association (BBA) is mooting plans to come up with a Southern Region basketball league that will involve teams from the Midlands, Matabeleland North and South Provinces.
However, the provinces will not disband their respective leagues, but will reserve days for teams to fulfill fixtures in the Southern Region league.
The basketball season begins next month.
BBA spokesperson Joe Mujuru confirmed that the resolution was passed during the annual general meeting (AGM) which was held in the city on Thursday.
“We had our annual general meeting and we came up with the resolution that BBA teams and seven teams from the Midlands will combine to form the Southern Region league as we seek to foster the level of competition in the two provinces,” he said.
The four teams set to join the men’s teams are Midlands State University (MSU), Unicorns, Rockets and Steelers from Kwekwe.
Unicorns, Steelers and MSU will join the league in the women’s section.
Mujuru said they have decided to form the league because they are concerned over the deteriorating standards of basketball and the idea of the Southern Region League had always been on the cards.
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“The level of basketball has gone down. We are not impressed because we did not perform well in the club championships that were held in Bulawayo in July. The junior teams are also not doing well,” he said.
The league will get a major boost as Highlanders and Conquerors men’s team are set to rejoin the league after they had disbanded.
“Conquerors and Highlanders will also be re-joining the league. We are also looking at having teams from Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North joining the league as we want it to be more competitive,” he said.
However, BBA teams like reigning champions Giants and Lords, will be the major losers as some of the players are said to be rejoining their former team Highlanders.
Giants are bound to lose key players like Derrick Chiradza and Michael Zvoushe while Lords might lose Stewart Woods and Tawanda Mudzudzu.
