BY TERRY MADYAUTA
The Zimbabwe Rugby Union (ZRU) is set to launch an academy in Gweru in a move aimed at reviving the sport in the Midlands province.
ZRU vice-chairman Martin Shone revealed the development, saying they are targeting budding rugby players in primary and secondary school as well as those in colleges, especially from high-density suburbs.
Shone said establishing the academy was part of their nationwide drive to revive the sport at grassroots level, with expectation of creating reliable feeders to national teams.
“In Gweru, there is one venue for rugby which is Gweru Sports Club so we are going to use it specifically for our academy,” Shone said.
“We are establishing this academy, but our target is the kids in the high- density suburbs, who we feel have been overlooked in recent times.
“At this stage, we are finalising with the key stakeholders, but everything else is already in place.”
As it stands, the ZRU board finalised its agreements with Sheasham Football Club, which had invested in renovations of the Gweru Sports Club for the cause.
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The facility is the only one that houses rugby in the city, which means it will be shared between the academy and Sheasham, who are using it as their home ground in the Central Region Division One league.
“The Gweru Sports Club rugby section will be running this project. Of course, the facility is multi-purpose.
“As you might be aware, there is a football team that has invested in this facility so we approached them and we have reached an agreement that we shall share the facility with them.
“They will allow us to use the pitch which they worked on thoroughly and we just hope to have a mutual relationship with them as we go forward,”Shone added.
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