Normalcy returns at DeMbare

By The NewsDay | Aug. 19, 2014 | 3 Min read

IT appears normalcy has returned to Dynamos after the players were back in training yesterday ahead of their midweek home fixture against Hwange.

HENRY MHARA SPORTS REPORTER

The two teams meet in a Castle Lager Premier Soccer League match at Gwanzura Stadium on Thursday.

After boycotting training for the whole of last week, resulting in the team’s 1-0 loss to Black Rhinos in the first round of the Chibuku Super Cup on Sunday, the Dynamos players reported for duty at their training base at Zimphos in Msasa, Harare, yesterday where they had a full morning training session before breaking in the afternoon for the day.

However, the players said they were still pressing for their grievances to be addressed by the club’s executive before the Hwange match. Failure to do so, they said, they would boycott the match.

The Dynamos executive was expected to meet with representatives from the club’s technical team yesterday evening to discuss ways to break the impasse.

Players who spoke to NewsDay Sport yesterday confirmed that they trained with the hope that their grievances, which include issues of bonuses and allowances, would be addressed soon.

“We have decided to go back to training and prepare for the match. We had a full training today [yesterday]. Those who played the whole match on Sunday had a recovery session and the rest had a full training session. We are training again tomorrow [today] and hopefully, the executive will come and address us,” one player said.

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Another one added: “We have decided to give them [executive] time to address our problems. We are just hoping that they will come [and meet us]. We just want them to respect us. If they don’t give us satisfactory answers, we will not play the match [against Hwange].

Dynamos executive chairman Keni Mubaiwa yesterday said they had had a frank meeting with the players on Friday where they told them that the club was facing serious financial challenges just like everyone else in the country.

Mubaiwa said they wanted to pay the players’ outstanding allowances and were currently drafting a payment plan to offset the debt.

“We told them we are aware of their plight, but we don’t have the money. But now it has become difficult because we are out of the Chibuku Cup in which we could have got about $150 000 from prize money and gate takings if we had reached the final,” Mubaiwa said.

The Dynamos players downed tools on Tuesday last week and went on to play their Chibuku Cup match without holding a single training session.

To their credit though, they put up a spirited show and were the better side for much of the game only to fall to Nesbert Padzarondora’s 82nd minute deflected goal.

However, the match had a nasty ending when Dynamos striker Rodreck Mutuma and Rhinos defender Abel Gada exchanged blows in added time.

Both players were shown straight red cards while Rhinos coach Jostein Mathuthu and his assistant Gift Kamuriwo were also ejected from their technical bench for their involvement in the scuffle, an incident which obviously tarnished the image of the sponsor.

Premier Soccer League chief executive officer Kennedy Ndebele yesterday said his office would issue a statement today after receiving the match report from match day referee Batsirai Muchenje.

Dynamos share top spot with unbeaten ZPC Kariba on 35 points from 19 matches, but the league champions are a rung below because of an inferior goal difference.

Dynamos are facing a wounded Hwange side who were also booted out of the Chibuku Super Cup after a penalty shootout loss at home to Triangle.

Hwange won the reverse fixture at the Colliery with Eric Chipeta, now at South Africa Premiership side Chippa United, scoring the only goal of the match when he converted a penalty.

Castle Lager Premier Soccer League midweek fixtures Tomorrow: Chapungu v ZPC Kariba (Ascot), Black Rhinos v FC Platinum (Rimuka), Bantu Rovers v Harare City (Hartsfield, 1300hrs), How Mine v Buffaloes (Hartsfield, 1500hrs), Chiredzi v Chicken Inn (Chishamiso), Shabanie Mine v Caps United (Maglas) Thursday: Dynamos v Hwange (Gwanzura), Highlanders v Triangle United (Hartsfield)