HARARE Sports Club have run out of patience with the Zimbabwe Rugby Union over the usage of their field by national teams following Saturday’s debacle during the Sables’ international friendly against Zambia.

In correspondence sent to ZRU on Monday, HSC rugby section chairman Tinashe Shamu made it clear that their tolerance had been stretched to the limit by ZRU as they feel they have used all available channels to have outstanding issues resolved without success. 

“As Harare Sports Club Rugby section we believe we have exhausted our patience with the Zimbabwe Rugby Union using our facilities whilst matters concerning our field have been left unresolved namely our boundary fence and the return of the scrummage machine.

We have concluded that these issues are clearly not a priority for the union and we as Harare Sports Club have continued to offer our services for National Teams be it meetings or trainings where some were conducted without communication,’’ said Shamu.

What seems to have angered the HSC rugby section leadership were the events on Saturday when the Sables took on Zambia in an international friendly. HSC state that they tried to make sure that they made sure that the floodlights and playing field were ready. According to HSC, contact was made with ZRU chief executive officer, Blessing Chiutare informing him that the owners of the ground will take care of the playing field and the bar with the union to look after the rest. 

ZRU failed to play their part marking was not marked properly, there were no technical zones, national anthems were not sung with flags not put up as well. HSC also claim that ZRU abandoned the Zambian officials which tainted the reputation of HSC.

“As a result, parking was poorly managed, technical zones non-existent, no national anthems were sung or flags put up during games. With few hours before the game we were asked for white shorts for the ladies, we were asked for match balls before kickoff of the first game and to heighten this poor organisation, our committee members hosted the Zambian Management Staff who felt abandoned after the game.

After an hour of trying, HSC committee members help them get their bus out of Harare Sports Club without anyone from the union around. All these have only led to our reputation being tarnished by all who attended the game as Harare Sports Club,’’ Shamu said.

HSC said they will not hesitate to make it known to the public that it was ZRU’s poor organisational skills and not HSC incompetence to host which led to the problems during the friendly matches played over the weekend.

“As mentioned our patience is exhausted and with how this weekend transpired we are left with no option. We will no longer be in a position to open out facilities freely for all national teams whatever age group for training on our field or meetings on our facility. For use of our training facilities a non-negotiable fee of $50 an hour (excluding lights) will be charged paid in advance if you require our facilities. However if the union does restore fence and scrummage machine we will be open to discuss the opportunity of National Teams using our facilities  at better rates,’’ concludes the letter signed by Shamu.

ZRU refused to speak on the exact matters raised by HSC while thanking the club for the club for being the venue of the Zimbabwe versus Zambia matches even though this was done at short notice. In a statement in response to the HSC correspondence, ZRU committed themselves to mending bridges with all role players in the game.

“The Zimbabwe Rugby Union will not comment on the specific issues raised by Harare Sports Club. We will however engage HSC as an esteemed stakeholder. We will take this opportunity to thank Harare Sports Club for hosting the Zimbabwe versus Zambia matches albeit at short notice. As a union, we are in the process of building bridges with all stakeholders as we seek to be financial stable and consistently churn out exciting rugby to the fans,’’ said ZRU.

It seems HSC are angry with ZRU over unfulfilled promises the rugby mother had undertaken to build a grandstand, rebuild changing rooms, fix benches and sitting area by the scoreboard and put up fencing around the field. These were all assurances given for HSC hosting last year’s World Rugby Under-20 Trophy held in May.

Former Sables committee chairperson, Bongai Zamchiya took to social networking site, Facebook to express his disgust with what transpired at HSC on Saturday.

“Well done to Sables and ladies. Good rugby. However, let's call a spade a spade. The field wasn't marked. There were no technical zones. No proper referees' table. No national anthems. No traffic control. Then the Zambian men slept on the floor at The Courtney Hotel. They had to shower in the ladies' rooms. Better to have cancelled than embarrassed ourselves in this manner,’’ posted Zamchiya.

Images of the Sables holding training sessions while using car lights at Prince Edward were circulating on social media ahead of the match. Despite the entire circus surrounding their preparations, the Sables went on to beat Zambia 64-3 in a match they used as preparation for the Rugby Africa Gold Cup which starts at the end of the month.

@Mdawini_29