FINANCIALLY troubled Motor Action FC executive will meet at the end of the season to deliberate on the club’s future following its relegation from the top flight league last weekend.
BY ALBERT MARUFU
The 2010 champions, who are facing collapse due to financial constraints, ended their 13-year relationship with the league last weekend, after being relegated together with Tripple B.
Motor Action, the first club to own its own stadium and issue a stake to its players and officials, experienced a mass exodus of players mid-season, resulting in them turning to Aces Youth Soccer Academy (Aysa) juniors in an attempt to save the team.
The club’s vice-president Simeon Jamanda told Standardsport that for now, focus was on fulfilling the remaining games.
“For now everyone is still in a state of shock and we will concentrate on completing the season. We will then sit as a board at the end of the season to map the way forward,” he said.
Jamanda however could neither deny nor confirm the rumour that Aysa might take over the club.
“We have worked with Mark Duvillard [Aysa director] in the past, as he was our coach at one time. We will look at all the possibilities, but nothing has been discussed as yet,” he said.
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Nigel Munyati, one of Aysa’s directors told Standardsport that their players were on loan to Motor Action until the end of the season and nothing further had been discussed.
“The arrangement is that our players will be on loan until the end of the season. We will sit down with Motor Action after the completion of the season. It is unfortunate that Motor Action was relegated, but I am happy with how the young boys played,” he said.
Asked whether there were plans by the academy for a complete take-over of the financially troubled club, Munyati said that was highly unlikely.
“We have been in Division One before, and from our experience, it does not work for us. We are an academy and the main focus is on development. The next group of players we have are the Under-16 and they cannot play in Division One. Our hope is that the players who played for Motor Action will find clubs either in the Premier Soccer League or Division One,” he said.
PSL chairman Twine Phiri said the league would be poorer without the colourful Motor Action.
“It is sad to lose a club like Motor Action looking at the contribution that Eric and Liz Rosen have put into football. It is my hope that the government will look at ways to help the club because they create employment,” he said.
In their 13-year flirtation with the league, the Mighty Bulls have produced two Soccer Stars of the Year in Clemence Matawu, and Charles Sibanda.
They have also been in almost eight Cup tournaments and nearly every club has a player with Bulls blood in them.
Title-chasing Highlanders have Masimba Mambare, Milton Ncube and Bhekimpilo Nyoni while Dynamos have Ocean Mushure. The other clubs that have Motor Action players are Hwange (Isaac Masame) and Chicken Inn who have Matawu.
