Rugby Union in the red

Sport
BY ALBERT MARUFU ZIMBABWE Rugby Union (ZRU) suffered a deficit of more than US$100 000 after participating in the Victoria Cup, Africa Cup and hosting the just ended Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) Under 19 tournament.

Though both the Zimbabwe teams, the Sables and the Young Sables, emerged as champions in their respective tournaments; the union is still counting the losses.

The Sables, who managed their best-ever ranking of 34, emerged as champions of the Victoria Cup after coming tops in a triangular tournament involving Kenya and Uganda.

They also did well in the Africa Cup in which they were promoted to Africa Cup group 1A, which enables them to take part in the 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifiers. The Africa Cup qualifiers which were hosted by Uganda also included Madagascar whom the Sables trounced on their way to being promoted to Africa Cup 1A.

 

The Young Sables also managed to defend the CAR Under 19 Cup — that also served as a qualifier for the Junior World Rugby Trophy tournament. The eight-team tournament ended at Prince Edward School last weekend with the players celebrating, but the union is now in a financial mess. The Victoria Cup, which is in its second year, does not have a sponsor and each of the three participating countries — Zimbabwe, Kenya and Uganda — have to foot their own travel and accommodation bills.

However, for African Cup, CAR provides a travelling grant while the host nation pays for the accommodation of the visiting team.

Uganda hosted the Africa Cup, whose travelling expenses were partly paid for by CAR. CAR also provided only US$40 000 for the hosting of the eight team CAR Under 19 tournament with the rest of the bills being footed by the hosting association.

Themba Sibanda, the ZRU president bemoaned the lack of funding as seriously hampering the growth of rugby in the country.